IRVING, Texas - Twelve hours before teeing off in the Byron Nelson Championship, John Daly was on stage before a packed house at a local bar playing his acoustic guitar and singing "Knockin' on Heaven's Door."

Then he got back to his real job, and he was knocking on the leaderboard.

All that kept him from a share of the lead Thursday with Stuart Appleby was a careless three-putt on the final hole. But considering that he holed out a bunker shot for birdie, chipped in for birdie from behind the green and otherwise played a "mediocre" round of 6-under-par 64, he had few complaints.

"That was the only bad thing today," Daly said. "When I can say that on 18 holes, that's pretty good."

Appleby didn't have too much go wrong, either.

Other than a bad 9-iron that missed the sixth green in the wrong spot and led to his only bogey, Appleby had eight birdies on the TPC at Las Colinas for a one-shot lead over Daly, Ernie Els and Brett Wetterich.

Els showed the same form when he won in Shanghai two weeks ago by 13 shots, a career high for him and the most ever on the European tour. He played without a bogey, and the one time he looked as though he might be in trouble, Els hit a 7-iron out of the rough to 4 feet for birdie.

"It's a good start; I'm happy with that," Els said.

He carried the torch for the rest of the Big Five, who never got anything going.

Tiger Woods was struggling along at 1 over until he hit a 7-iron into 6 feet on the par-5 seventh for an eagle. That was all the excitement he generated until making a 30-foot birdie on the 18th hole for a 69.

"I just couldn't make any putts," said Woods, who missed only four greens but took 32 putts. "My lines are just a little off. If I felt yippy or twitchy out there, it would be a different story, but I felt good."

Vijay Singh had no shortage of great shots or birdie putts - seven in all, starting with a nifty wedge out of the rough on the first hole that hopped forward onto the green to about 8 feet. But there was that fairway bunker shot that hit the lip and toppled into the rough, and four par putts inside 10 feet that stayed out.

He wound up with a 68, despite five bogeys.

"I played six, seven holes pretty good and six, seven holes pretty badly and six, seven holes OK," Singh said.

Phil Mickelson was as boring as he will ever get - 17 pars, one birdie.

"It was, for me, a very mundane round," Mickelson said. "I played pretty well. I just didn't get the ball in the hole. I was watching guys shoot 4, 5, 6 under par like it was nothing. It was a little frustrating."

U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen birdied the last hole for a 70.

Daly rarely lacks for drama, on or off the golf course. He played the easier Cottonwood Valley course and opened his low scoring by holing out from a bunker for birdie on No. 3. And as usual, he had plenty of fans cheering him along the course, some wondering what he would do next.

Daly is used to big crowds, and had one Wednesday night at Cool River restaurant, where he was billed as one of the featured attractions.

"I was only supposed to sing one song," Daly said. "They wanted me to sing four."

Singing is nothing new for Daly. He released a CD a few years ago called "My Life," and it featured such hits as "All My Exes Wear Rolexes." But he's not about to quit his regular job.

"I'm about a 20 (handicap) when it comes to doing that stuff," Daly said of his stage appearances.