SIX BIRDIES HELP MARTIN LAIRD SHARE EARLY LEAD IN CALIFORNIA

Martin Laird birdied three of the last four holes to return a four-under-par 67 and figured in a nine-way tie for the lead by the end of the opening day of the US PGA Tour's Northern Trust Open at Riviera County Club, Pacific Palisades in California.
The Scot had six birdies in all - the fifth, ninth, 10th and then the three late sub-par figures in halves of 34 and 33. He also bogeyed the seventh and 12th.
Padraing Harrington and England's Brian Davis and Luke Donald  are on 68 in what has the makings of a low-scoring tournament.
Dustin Johnson was penalised two strokes for being late on the first tee.
Apparently it was his caddie who mistook the starting time and Johnson had to race up the hill at Riviera and arrived within 10 seconds of being disqualified.
His opening par turned into a double bogey, and he wound up with a 2-over 73 to trail by six shots.
Last summer, Johnson was penalised two shots at the 18th hole of the US PGA championship for grounding his cub in a bunker - which he did not recognise as a bunker. The penalty kept him out of a play-off.


LEADERBOARD
Par 71
Players from the US unless stated
67 John Senden, Martin Laird (Scotland), Robert Allenby (Australia), Spencer Levin, Aaron Badfdeley (Australia), Ben Martin, Bill Haas, Carl Petterson (Sweden), J B Holmes.
Selected scores:
68 Padraig Harrington (Ireland), Brian Davis (England), Vijay Singh (Fiji), Luke Donald (England).
69 Justin Rose (England).
71 Paul Casey (England).TO CHECK OUT ALL THE SCORES ON THE US TOUR WEBSITE


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OTHER NEWS FROM THE US TOUR

Tiger Woods announced on his website today that he will play in next week's Accenture Match Play Championship at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Marana, Arizona.
Woods has won this tournament three times but never at this venue. His last match-play title came in 2008 at The Gallery at Dove Mountain and at LaCosta in 2003 and 2004.
Woods, who will be the No 3 seed, will be joined by Phil Mickelson, who announced on Sunday at Pebble Beach that he will play.
Lee Westwood, who took over at No. 1 in the world three months ago, will be the top seed when play tees off next Wednesday.
US PGA champion Martin Kaymer will be the No 2 seed, followed by Woods and Mickelson.
The 64-man field was settled  last Sunday night by the latest world ranking, and the only player to crack the top 64 was Anders Hansen. His tie for second in the Dubai Desert Classic moved him from No. 70 to No. 52.
Henrik Stenson, who won the Match Play in 2007 the first year it moved to Arizona, fell from No. 62 to No. 65 after missing the cut in Dubai. He is the first reserve for a place.
Francesco Molinari had planned to skip the event because his wife was expecting. She gave birth to their first child, a son, last week. Asked if he had decided to play, Molinari replied on Twitter, "Not yet no, 60 (percent) yes, 40 (percent) no right now."
Players have until Friday to decide to play. The pairings will be released on Sunday.
If Molinari decides to play, Westwood will play Toru Taniguchi of Japan in the first round. Taniguchi reached the semi-finals of the Match Play when it was held in Australia in 2001, losing to eventual winner Steve Stricker in the semi-finals.
Kaymer would face Seung-yul Noh. Woods would play long-time friend Thomas Bjorn and Mickelson would get Brendan Jones.
Other matches that could be intriguing if Molinari plays would be Sean O'Hair against Hunter Mahan, two pupils of swing coach Sean Foley; defending champion Ian Poulter against Stewart Cink; and Geoff Ogilvy against Padraig Harrington.
The format for the Accenture Match Play Championship has changed this year from a 36-hole championship match on Sunday to 18-hole semi-finals Sunday morning and an 18-hole championship final on Sunday afternoon.