SAN DIEGO (AP) – Brandt Jobe now can say he is leading the Buick Invitational after handling the tough South Course with a 5-under 67 on Friday. How he got there remains a mystery to him.

Coming off a brilliant round of putting on the easier North Course, the long-hitting Jobe kept the ball in play and made the only eagle on the par-5 18th to build a two-shot lead over Tim Clark and Jesper Parnevik.

“My games yesterday and today were not even comparable,” said Jobe, who was at 12-under 132. “I hit the ball good today and putted great yesterday. I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

The two courses at Torrey Pines are nothing alike, making it hard to sort out who’s doing what until the weekend. The final two days will include defending champion Tiger Woods, who recovered from a rugged start to his year with a 4-under 68 on the South, including a 60-foot eagle putt on the 13th.

Woods was seven shots out of the lead.

Clark (66) and Parnevik (67) were on the North Course, which played five shots easier.

Even after he opened with a 65 on the North, Jobe said he considered Parnevik to be in the lead because the Swede had a 67 on the South.

“Give me a 5 under on the South Course tomorrow and then we’ll talk,” he said Thursday.

And that’s what he got, overcoming consecutive bogeys earlier in his round with a 3-wood into 10 feet on the 18th, consecutive bogeys to start the second nine and no mistakes over the final 10 holes.

“Coming to the South Course, if I played like I did yesterday, I probably would have shot over par because I couldn’t hit a fairway,” Jobe said. “Today, I said, All right, you’re going to have to tighten things up.’ Fortunately, I did. I drove the ball real well.”

Steve Lowery had a 69 on the South and was at 8-under 136, while the group at 137 included Shigeki Maruyama and Sergio Garcia, who made two late birdie putts for a 68.

Some players took advantage of the North simply to stick around. Ryan Palmer shot 76 in the first round, then came back with a 62 on the North to join the group at 6 under that included Phil Mickelson (67).

Davis Love III shot 67 to make his first cut of the year, although he was nine shots behind.

Woods put himself in a perilous spot by hitting only one fairway on the North Course and opening with a pedestrian 71, leaving him around the cut line when he started his second round on a course that will host the U.S. Open in two years. But he didn’t stay there for long.

He holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-3 third hole, and hit a beautiful flop from deep rough on the par-5 ninth to close out his front nine in 32. Then came the 13th, where he hit a miserable approach on the par 5 that left him on the right side of the green, 60 feet and a steep ridge away from the cup.

His caddie was tending the pin, and raised his arms to celebrate when the ball was still a few feet away. Woods turned and raised both arms when it dropped, putting him at 7 under.

Roberts takes first-round lead at Turtle Bay event

KAHUKU, Hawaii – Another island, another fantastic round for Loren Roberts.

Fresh off a win at the MasterCard Championship on Kaupulehu, Roberts shot a 6-under 66 on Friday at the Turtle Bay Championship to take a one-stroke lead over Bruce Summerhays.

Five-time defending champion Hale Irwin had trouble finding his groove in the Champions Tour’s first full-field event of the year. Irwin bogeyed No. 3 and parred the next 14 holes.

Irwin is seeking his sixth straight Turtle Bay title but it was Roberts who continued his strong play in Hawaii.

He sank putt after putt, making the turn at 33 and recording seven birdies, including four in the last seven holes. The 66 was the lowest first-round score on the Palmer Course.

Last week, Roberts had a 25-under 191 in ideal conditions at Hualalai course to shatter the Champions Tour record for relation to par in a 54-hole event. He also broke the tour record for birdies in a three-round tournament with 26.

Don Pooley, who lost to Roberts by a stroke at Hualalai, was two strokes off the lead at 68.

The field of 78 was challenged by the breezy and damp conditions.

“It was really windy and blustery,” said Summerhays, who tied for second in 1997 and tied for third in 2003. “As a matter of fact, on the last hole I almost got bamboozled out there.”

Summerhays, who turns 62 next month, got off to his best start at Turtle Bay. He birdied three of the par-3s, but none of the par-5s. He had a chance to move to 6-under, but three-putted the final hole for par.

Summerhays played in front of more than 30 family members, down from 44 that watched him last week at the MasterCard Championship on the Big Island.

Japan’s Kiyosi Murota making his Champions Tour debut on a sponsors exemption, was at 69 with former Hawaii resident Scott Simpson and Jim Thorpe.

“I got nervous on my first four or five holes, but the I decided to just enjoy myself and I played pretty good,” said Murota, who birdied three of his final four holes. Murota is a six-time winner on the Japan tour and has played 10 events on the PGA Tour.

Simpson, a native of San Diego who lived in nearby Kailua for five years, began the day with an eagle on the par-4.

first by holing his approach shot using a 6-iron from 167 yards.

He told playing partner Morris Hatalsky: “There’s two ways to look at it: It’s a great way to start the year, but it can only go down hill.”

The group at 70 included Jerry Pate, Tom McKnight, Raymond Floyd, Ben Crenshaw, Lonnie Nielson, and Jay Haas.

Isao Aoki and Tom Watson were another stroke back.

Last year, Irwin held off Dana Quigley by five strokes, winning with a Turtle Bay record 16-under 200. Irwin, who began his streak with a victory at Kaanapali in 2000, became the first player to win a PGA Tour-sanctioned event five straight times.

Divots: Tom Purtzer withdrew with a sore back and was replaced by Jim Chancey. … The Palmer Course, built on a marsh, was used by the Army as a landing strip for bombers and housing area during World War II. … Roberts, Haas, Peter Jacobsen and Craig Stadler opened their season by playing in the Sony Open in Hawaii on the PGA Tour.

AP-ES-01-27-06 2250EST