A week ago, 30 of last year’s PGA Tour champs opened the 2013 season — or at least tried to — by getting blown off the face of the West Maui mountains.

In Thursday’s first round of the Sony Open in Hawaii, a full field ate the rookies’ dust.

Scott Langley, the 2010 NCAA champion at Illinois, and Russell Henley, who won a 2011 Web.com tournament a week before his Georgia graduation, fell in love with Waialae Country Club at first sight.

The rookies were particularly passionate about the greens, where they combined for 23 one-putts. Langley made 198 feet of putts, in 23 swipes, to shoot a bogey-free 8-under-par 62 in his first tournament as a tour member.

That is the lowest start since the tournament switched to par-70 in 1999.

Henley, playing in the same all-rookie group, was right behind at 63, a lone bogey the only difference.

Both are 23, and totally oblivious to anything resembling nerves, apparently. They have known each other since middle school and late in Thursday’s stunning round they talked about how far they had come from one year ago on the Hooters Tour.

"He had just missed the cut, I barely made the cut, we were on the range trying to help each other find it," Langley recalled. "You know, we just were walking up 16, today you could see the ocean behind, PGA Tour signs everywhere, we looked at each other and realized this is pretty cool. To look back one year ago and to know that we weren’t here, we were in a far different place."

They came in right before dark, careening past Scott Piercy, who led for about six hours after shooting 64 in the fifth group of the day.

Tim Clark, who turned pro when Langley and Henley were 9, caught Piercy with a two-putt birdie on his final hole. Clark was second here two years ago.

Lurking in the red numbers so prevalent after a typical Hawaii tradewinds day are guys like Charles Howell III, Matt Kuchar and Webb Simpson, all at 66.

Ryan Palmer, the 2010 Sony champ, and Vijay Singh, who won here in 2005, are clustered with eight others at 67.

Langley and Henley, who tied for low amateur at the 2010 U.S. Open, are among nine rookies in the top 44, at 68 or better. Nearly half the 144-man field broke par.

The two leaders blew it to pieces.

"Today when I would get excited I had to remind myself, calm down, it’s early, it’s Thursday," Langley said. "Take some deep breaths, distract myself in any way, look at the ocean, that normally does it.

"I’m a young guy, but I’m old enough to know that we have a lot of golf left. We’ve barely started, and I’m excited about the next few days."

Still, 62 on the first day of his dream job beyond belief.

"I’ll remember this day for a long time," Langley said.

He made it look effortless. Langley birdied three of the first four holes, all from outside 14 feet. He buried a 56-footer for eagle to make the turn at 5 under, then seized a share of first with a four-footer on the next hole.

On the 16th, he dropped another 30-foot bomb. He closed out "my best competitive round — nice timing" by draining a 6-footer on the final green.

Henley won twice on the Web.com Tour last year. He caught Langley, for a moment, at 7 under with his eighth birdie at the 17th. All of his birdie putts came from 7 feet and out.

Meanwhile, in the morning, Piercy appeared relieved to be out of the Kapalua wind tunnel. He was 13th at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, which finally finished Tuesday after a three-day wind delay.

"It was fun not having to battle the wind," said Piercy, who has won each of the past two years. "Last week there wasn’t one shot where you just kind of got up there and you’re like, ‘Oh, it’s just an 8-iron.’ It’s like, ‘No, it’s 100 yards, do I cut a 6, do I hook an 8?’ Here it’s just, ‘I’ve got 130, little wind, all right, hit a 125 shot.’ So the mental beat-down of the wind wasn’t there, it made it more fun."

He was the first to reach 5 under, with five birdies in his first 11 holes.

Piercy missed a 7-foot eagle putt on the final hole for his 64.

Dustin Johnson, who won at Kapalua Tuesday, opened with 70 and defending champion Johnson Wagner shot 71.