GOLF: Ireland's Richie Coughlan got off to a blistering start in the first round of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am yesterday with birdies on three of his first four holes.

But the Birr golfer, who had started at the 10th, then let the advantage slip with three bogeys to reach the turn at a disappointing level par.

The pacesetter was little- known John Rollins, who raced to five under par after 12 holes.

Tiger Woods began his second tournament of the year solidly by getting to three-under after 10 holes.

Woods chose the site of two of his most memorable triumphs to make his return to the PGA Tour.

The world number one, a native of California, enjoyed a pair of improbable victories at Pebble Beach during his magical 2000 season.

He trailed Matt Gogel by seven strokes with seven holes to play at this competition in 2000 but finished the round four under on the last four holes to win the title by two strokes.

On the same course, Woods won the US Open by a major championship-record 15 strokes. His 12-under total also matched the tournament record for lowest score in relation to par.

Woods won three consecutive majors in 2000, completed the career Grand Slam and captured nine PGA events.

In his only previous outing in 2002, Woods finished 10th in the Mercedes Championships in Hawaii.

Woods skipped his third straight PGA Tour event last week, when Chris DiMarco won the Phoenix Open.

As usual a host of celebrities will play along with the professionals this week.

But there is one regular participant missing. Jack Lemmon, who was a long-time partner of Peter Jacobsen, died last June.

The Oscar-winning actor maintained his passion for golf, despite missing 25 consecutive cuts here.

Actors in the field this year include Bill Murray, Ray Romano and James Woods.

Other well-known amateurs include former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth, real estate tycoon Donald Trump and talk show host Maury Povich.