Sang-Moon Bae and Chris Kirk teed off together less than an hour into the PGA Tour’s first full-field event of 2014 and shot to the top at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Nothing changed the rest of the day, despite spectacular weather at Waialae Country Club that begged for better scores.
Bae opened with a career-low 7-under-par 63 Thursday, one-putting eight greens.
"I made a bunch of good putts," the 27-year-old South Korean said. "A lot of putts. I think I hit 16 greens. That’s really good, too."
Kirk was 2 over after six holes, while Bae was 4 under. The 28-year-old who won seven collegiate events at the University of Georgia — a record tied by defending Sony champ Russell Henley — didn’t get mad, he nearly got even.
Kirk practically dunked his approach shot to No. 8, leading to four birdies in five holes, with a 10-foot par putt on the 10th to keep the momentum. His 14-footer for eagle on the last hole was the longest putt he made all day. It left him one back and second alone going into today’s second round.
"He was off to a great start," Kirk said of Bae. "It took some catching up for me on the back nine. But it’s always nice to see putts falling and give you a good feel for it."
They tee off together again today at 12:30 p.m., with Rory Sabbatini. Bae and Kirk won last year, and played last week in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. Kirk, whose wife gave birth three weeks ago, shared the first-round lead there and finished 16th. Bae was 21st in the 30-man field.
They were waiting for Waialae. A year ago Kirk shot a career-low 62 here and tied for fifth. He has won $260,000 the past three years at Sony.
Bae won 11 times in Asia and got an exemption to Sony in 2009 — two years before he graduated from Sungkyunkwan University.
"At that time it was a really tough time because the winds were really, really strong out there, and I couldn’t hit any low balls, low drivers," Bae shrugged. "I couldn’t control the ball height. Right now I can control it a little more. I can hit a little draw or a little fade … I can hit more kind of shots. I can control a little more than four or five years ago."
He missed the cut in 2009 but made it the past two years. In that time, he has earned $3 million and become the fourth Korean-born winner on the PGA Tour, after Y.E. Yang, Kevin Na and 2008 Sony champ K.J. Choi.
Bae has been in Hawaii three weeks, trying to warm up his game and avoid the "really, really cold" weather at home. He played four practice rounds before Kapalua and "had fun — go to beach, go swim, everything. I like it here. I like Hawaii."
What’s not to like? He hit a "perfect" drive on his first hole Thursday, then a "perfect" 7-iron and sank a 3-foot birdie. No one could keep up with his torrid pace and bogey-free precision.
Kirk came closest, and 2010 Sony winner Ryan Palmer was next, tying for third at 65 with Brian Stuard, a 31-year-old Michigan pro who shared fifth with Kirk last year and has now shot three straight 65s here.
Palmer bogeyed the first, then reeled off four birdies on the front nine and two more to close his round.
Seventh-ranked Zach Johnson, who won here in 2009 and at the TOC on Monday, started bogey-bogey, then rallied to shoot 68. He had five bogeys at the vast Kapalua Plantation Course last time out, and already has three at cozy Waialae.
Jordan Spieth, the 20-year-old who chased Johnson across the Plantation for four days only to come up a shot short, shot 70 on Thursday with four bogeys. He had two the entire TOC.
Defending champion Russell Henley played, after withdrawing from the Pro-Am with stomach problems. He did not have nearly the success of last year, when he shredded the Sony scoring record. Henley shot 73 with two double-bogeys, the same number of bogeys he had here in 2013.
Tim Clark was second last year when he broke the previous scoring record. He also shot 73 Thursday. It was his 17th round at Waialae and the first where he went birdie-free. He and Henley are tied for 118th.
