Kapalua, Hawaii » Geoff Ogilvy opened the PGA Tour season Thursday without making bogey on his way to a 6-under 67 and a one-shot lead in the Mercedes-Benz Championship, a score that only surprised him because of the location.

In his eight previous rounds on the Plantation course at Kapalua, he had never shot better than 72.

But the former U.S. Open champion is coming off a victory in the Australian PGA Championship and a tie for sixth in the Australian Open last month, and he was just as sharp in taking the first-round lead over Ernie Els, Kenny Perry and fast-closing Johnson Wagner.

Els arrived in Maui having played only once in the last six weeks, and that worked well for him. In his first time to Kapalua in four years, he made only one blunder -- a tee shot into the hazard on the par-5 15th -- to get his season off to a solid start.

Wagner, one of a dozen newcomers to the winners-only Mercedes with his victory in the Shell Houston Open, wasn't even in the picture until a birdie-birdie-eagle finish. Perry joined the group at 68 with a birdie on the last hole.

Davis Love III, who won the final event of 2008 at Disney, and Ryuji Imada were in the group at 69.