Steve Flesch shot a four-under-par 66 despite the MasterCard Colonial's infamous swirling winds and took a one-stroke lead over Jeff Sluman and Fiji's Vijay Singh after the first round yesterday.

While normal by Colonial standards, the winds wreaked havoc with the games of some of the best players in the world. Just 15 of the 112 golfers managed to break par 70. Only the Masters had higher opening-day scores this year.

Flesch, playing in the next-to-last group of the day, rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to take sole possession of the lead after birdying the par-four 17th to move into a tie for the lead.

"I like it when it's windy because it can only help a good iron player and I feel like I can work my irons either way," said Flesch, last year's PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. "It was blowing for every player, so I was pleased to have a pretty good finish."

Other players were not as happy with the Texas winds. "I think this is the hardest round of golf I've played this year," Singh said.