K.J. Choi leads as Tiger Woods trails by 3 at Chevron

The Santa Anna winds began to blow through Thousand Oaks, California later in the afternoon at the Chevron World Challenge during the opening round of play.

K.J. Choi began his round by blowing through the first five holes. Carding five birdies in a row to begin his first round at Sherwood Country Club.

Choi would hold on as the winds gusted upwards of 30 mph to finish the day with a six-under, 66 to lead by three over Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker.

The Chevron World Challenge uses a select field of just 18 players. However, with the conditions worsening as the round went on, only three players managed to break par in round one.

Woods, who is also the event host, began his day with a bang birdying four of his first five holes before giving his first shot back on the par-four ninth hole.

Choi on the other hand did not drop a shot until bogeying the par-three 15th, though his seven birdies more than made up for that slip during his opening round.

Others were not so lucky in 'SoCal' this afternoon.

Englishman Paul Casey struggled and finished his round by almost not breaking 70 -- Finishing with a 79.

Bill Haas, Martin Laird and Keegan Bradley also had their fair share of misfortune around Sherwood today as well.

The three combined to finish 15 over par.

With the winds fore casted to pick up over night, the players will most likely be facing similar if not worse conditions in round two.

The leader Choi, may have a slight advantage with these conditions if you can imagine that.

The Players champion lives in the Dallas, Texas area and is use to playing in windy conditions. Though I'm not sure how often he plays in gail to hurricane force wind gusts.