PGA Professional National Champion Rod Perry fires impressive 3-under 69 in first round at AT&T Pebble Beach

Rod Perry won't forget his sixth career round on famed Pebble Beach Golf Links, a nearly 20-hour marathon that began Thursday at 1:12 p.m. after nearly a three-hour rain delay, was interrupted by darkness and ended at 9:03 a.m. Friday.

But the reigning PGA Professional National Champion and 2013 PGA Professional Player of the Year kept patient on his way to a 3-under-par 69, five strokes off the pace, in the opening round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Perry, 40, the PGA head professional at Crane Lakes Golf & Country Club in Port Orange, Fla., is using one of five exemptions this year for winning last year's National Championship. He began play on the 10th hole, finishing with five birdies and two bogeys. His lone miscues came with a three-putt at No. 1 and a bogey on the par-4 ninth, his closing hole.

He said he got to spend more than token time with his pro-am partner, Jackson Hsieh of New York, the Global Head of Real Estate, Leisure and Lodging for UBS.

"Jackson was fun to play with today and he told me that has taken lessons from Darrell Kestner," said Perry of the 1996 PGA Professional National Champion at Deepdale Golf Club in Manhasset, N.Y. "So, we have someone in common."

Perry said the cool, overcast day on the Monterey Peninsula was more to his liking. He opened his round by hitting a 5-iron approach to 15 feet and a two-putt par put him at ease. He birdied the 17th hole, knocking a 7-iron "with no wind at all" to 10 feet. After his bogey at the No. 1 hole, he caught fire with consecutive birdies from the second through fourth holes. His group made it as far as the sixth tee (their 14th hole of the day) before darkness curtailed play. He returned to the par-5 sixth Friday morning to add a birdie.

Following his round, Perry had just enough time to grab something to eat and then head to Spyglass Hill for his second round. "Jackson had several people in the gallery following him," he said. "I'm happy that my wife (Jaclyn) flew out to join me."