Ireland's Richie Coughlan made a steady start to finish at two-under-par, Brent Geiberger was the surprise leader at the end of yesterday's first round in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines when he handed in an eight-under-par 64.

Son of the senior tour veteran Al, Geiberger's round contained six birdies and an eagle which left him one shot clear of last week's Pebble Beach champion Davis Love III.

Coughlan not only made plenty of birdies playing the south course, he made a spectacular eagle three at the final hole where the second shot has to clear the water. This enabled him to recover from a double bogey at the 17th, and hand in a two-under-par 70.

Unfortunately, as there had been in the later rounds in Hawaii, there were too many dropped shots on the scorecard, which spoiled what could have been a great round, one which would have placed his name on the leaderboard.

Two missed short putts at the second and fourth after making birdie at the first set Coughlan back, especially at the fourth, where he was too aggressive with his birdie attempt and went six feet past the hole.

The iron shots were superb, Coughlan peppering the flag time and again, even from the rough, where he almost holed out at the par five sixth for his second eagle three.