KAPALUA, Jan 7: Vijay Singh signalled his intention to defend the world number one status he seized last season as he took the first-round lead on Thursday in the PGA Tour's season-opening Mercedes Championships.

The Fijian, who won nine times last year en route to Player of the Year honours, was nearly flawless as he careded a first-round 66 in the 5.3 million-dollar event.

After a bogey-free round at the Kapalua Plantation course, Singh held a one-shot lead over Australian Craig Parry. Tiger Woods was two strokes back, along with Spain's Sergio Garcia, Stewart Cink and Jonathan Kaye.

Singh had a quiet front nine, making the turn at two-under. But he picked up five birdies on his inward run to climb atop the leader board. Woods also made the turn at two-under, but unlike Singh, he never got to grips with the slow, grainy greens, squandering several birdie opportunities.

On the eve of the tournament, both Singh and Woods had looked forward to the coming season. Singh said he believed he could maintain the form he displayed in 2004, while Woods said he believed he could take his game to its highest level yet. Wedged between Singh and Woods was Parry, who arrived here sharper than most after playing a heavy late-year schedule in his native Australia.

FIRST ROUND SCORES

66 Vijay Singh (Fiji)

67 Craig Parry (Australia)

68 Stewart Cink, Sergio Garcia (Spain), Jonathan Kaye, Tiger Woods

69 Woody Austin, Bart Bryant, Chad Campbell, Ernie Els (South Africa), Steve Flesch, Adam Scott (Australia), Heath Slocum, Vaughn Taylor

70 John Daly, Mark Hensby (Australia), Rod Pampling (Australia), Mike Weir (Canada)

71 Retief Goosen (South Africa), David Toms, Joey Sindelar

72 Jonathan Byrd, Brent Geiberger, Todd Hamilton, Zach Johnson

73 Stephen Ames (Canada), Andre Stolz (Australia)

74 Stuart Appleby (Australia), Carlos Franco (Paraguay), Fred Funk

76 Ryan Palmer. -Reuters