Tiger Woods, US Masters and British Open champion Mark O'Meara, USPGA Championship winner Vijay Singh and a handful of top international players trail Americans Billy Mayfair, Fred Funk, Joe Durant and Steve Pate after the first round of the $2.6 million Mercedes Championship in Hawaii.

Mayfair, Funk, Joe Durant and Pate outplayed some of the USPGA Tour's brightest stars yesterday in round one of the 1999 season to share the lead. Mayfair, Funk and Durant birdied the 18th hole to fire seven-under-par 66s while Pate did most of his work on the front nine. Together they lead 1998 money leader David Duval and Billy Andrade by one stroke.

Americans John Cook, Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard opened with 68s, one ahead of six others, including former champion Woods, Fred Couples, Davis Love, Sweden's Jesper Parnevik and reigning US Open champion Lee Janzen.

USPGA Player of the Year O'Meara shot a 70, one stroke better than defending champion Phil Mickelson, who won his second title in the event last year. Mayfair, the only 1998 multiple winner in the leading group, chipped in for birdie from 25 feet on the first hole. After back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth holes, he three-putted for bogey at the eighth but answered with a 10-foot eagle putt on the par-five ninth hole.

Mayfair's four back-nine birdies featured an eight-footer on the 18th to join the leaders. Funk's lone 1998 triumph came at the Deposit Guaranty Classic, while many of the world's best players competed at the British Open. But he proved he belonged to be with the best after a bogey-free round that finished with five birdies over the final seven holes.