Woods’ start right on course

LA JOLLA -- Not that everybody’s looking over their shoulders, but Tiger Woods has won his opening tournament of the year five times, and after he tossed a neat five-under-par 67 at Torrey Pines’ South Course on Thursday, it doesn’t appear that he’s in the mood to start backing up.

The sunshine was fickle, the wind was consistent and Woods was probably somewhere in between in the first round of the Buick Invitational.

“It was a little bit of a test out there,” he said.

If that’s true, then Troy Matteson goes straight to the head of the class. Matteson pummeled the beefy South Course with a seven-under 65 and owns the lead. He’s one shot ahead of qualifying school graduate Brad Adamonis, who earned his 66 on the more compliant North Course.

Woods is next, tied for third with Rory Sabbatini, Stuart Appleby and Kevin Streelman, who got into the field as the third alternate.

Much has been made of Woods’ debut in 2008, and he said it didn’t take him long to get back into the competitive swing of things:

“Three holes.”

And as far as competitive relationships go, there’s the near-frozen one between Woods and Sabbatini, who keep running into each other.

They had a brief flurry of mistrust last year about Sabbatini’s view that Woods was “as beatable as ever,” and Sabbatini again got on Woods’ nerves at the Target World Challenge last month.

Sabbatini became the first player in the event’s history to withdraw, then took his courtesy car to the airport and left it for somebody to find.

Woods and Sabbatini haven’t spoken about that issue, but as luck would have it, they passed within a foot of each other in a corridor inside the interview area Thursday and studiously avoided looking at each other.

And the fans at Torrey Pines probably thought it was chilly out on the golf course.

Asked Thursday about his relationship with Sabbatini, Woods had a short answer:

“It is what it is.”

While that doesn’t exactly clear it up, Sabbatini may have taken at least a step toward rapprochement when he donated $170,000 -- just what he earned at Target -- to a military foundation’s reading program.

Meanwhile, out on the golf course, Phil Mickelson began his first tournament of the year sporting a slightly different look. Mickelson ditched the cap with the Bearing Point logo that he has worn for the last five years and donned a Callaway cap instead. Mickelson is having a financial dispute over his endorsement of Bearing Point, shares of which are trading roughly 75% lower than a year ago.

Other numbers: Mickelson managed a two-under 70 on the North Course. That put him tied for 21st, but he wasn’t upset how his day turned out.

“I’ll take two-under par to get it started,” he said. “I kind of expected it.”

Only four of the 20 players who broke 70 came from the South Course -- Matteson, Woods, and Jeff Quinney and Parker McLachlin at 69.

The cold, wet conditions have made both the 7,569-yard South and the 6,874-yard North play longer than usual. Drives aren’t getting as much distance as they would traveling in warmer air and damp fairways are limiting the roll.

“Guys are concerned about how far they’re hitting it,” Matteson said. “Obviously the ball doesn’t release very much in the grass here, and it doesn’t roll more than maybe two or three steps. If it does, you’re lucky because you’re picking up yardage.”

Matteson, 28, who won the 2006 Frys.com Open at Las Vegas, tied for 23rd here last year after beginning the last round tied for fourth. He closed with a 76 while Woods had a 66 and won.

Matteson said he enjoyed being paired with Woods.

“It’s just pretty neat to see a guy shoot 65, 66 on Sunday to win,” he said. “You know, it’s just nice to be right there.”

For Woods, rounds in the 60s are routine, certainly of late. His last 16 rounds have been 69 or better, dating to last year and including the Target.

Woods didn’t drive the ball well Thursday, hitting only seven of 14 fairways, but he still managed to post a score that made him happy. And now he’s got the North Course to look forward to, even if it has been toughened up a bit. The North played about 2.4 shots easier than the South in the first round.

Adamonis, who turned 35 last week, had seven birdies and one bogey and played the back nine on the North at four under.

He said he resisted the temptation to look at the leaderboard out on the course and see his name ahead of Woods’.

“Yeah, I tried not to get myself looking at the leaderboard because the reality of the situation is I’m trying to execute shots, and most of the time when I look I really don’t execute well,” he said. “Until maybe I’m lucky enough to win a tournament, then probably I would feel a little bit more comfortable.”

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com