KA'UPULEHU, Hawai'i — Hualalai welcomed the 2006 Champions Tour with open arms yesterday, to say nothing of bunches of birdies and eagles.

The MasterCard Championship at Hualalai began in flawless conditions and the seniors destroyed it. Loren Roberts, Tom Watson and Don Pooley did the most damage. They share the lead going into today's second round after shooting 9-under-par 63's to tie the tournament record.

Watson had 30 on the front — with 11 putts — and let the magic number of 59 sneak into his head after getting to 8-under on the 13th. "And then I choked," he said with a grin, after leaving birdie putts short on three of the last four holes.

A year ago, he shot 64 in the first two rounds before losing a playoff to Dana Quigley. "It's like a quarter horse race out there," Watson said. "You better get in the lead and stay there. You can't back off at all. ... It would be nice to shoot the scores I did last year for three rounds rather than just two."

Pooley had 30 on the back. He made the turn at a pedestrian 3-under, birdied five straight holes and ultimately tied his career low. "I felt like I could birdie every hole for awhile," he said. "That doesn't happen very often."

Roberts turned 50 last year and shared time on this and the regular tour with remarkable success. He played just six senior events, finished in the top 10 in all but one and defeated Quigley in a playoff to win the Senior British Open.

He opened 2006 with a top-20 finish last week at the Sony Open in Hawai'i. His introduction to Hualalai was extremely cordial. The wind barely whispered, pretty much every blade of grass looked perfect and he needed just 25 putts.

"This is the way to start your year," said Roberts, who birdied the first hole from 18 feet, then hit it so close his last eight birdie putts were inside 12 feet. "I had a little blip around the turn, but other than that I played as well as I can play. The golf course is just in excellent condition. The greens are perfect, the fairways are perfect. If you're hitting the ball well you're going to shoot a low score and most of these guys are."

Yesterday's average of 67.543 was a shot and a half below the previous first-round record (69.105) and half a shot better than the seniors have ever played this course. Almost 80 percent of the 35-man field shot in the 60's.

"The golf course is in as fine a condition as you will ever find a golf course," said Curtis Strange, who is a shot back in his Hualalai debut. "It's not that tough a day because the wind has not picked up at all. With the wind blowing there will be some local knowledge and I'll be behind the eight ball, behind some of the players who have been here in the past."

Fuzzy Zoeller, the 2004 champion, hit it within five inches for birdie on the final hole and his 65 barely made the top five, with Ben Crenshaw and Jim Thorpe, who birdied the first four holes. Quigley shot 67 — his 12th straight round in the 60s here — and was beat by 14 guys.

Only two golfers — Mark McNulty and 70-year-old Gary Player — did not break par. More to the point, 22 golfers are within five shots of the lead.

Strange didn't know he was coming here until last week, when he was asked to replace Lee Trevino. He showed how "honored" he was to be invited by burying three birdie putts outside 15 feet on the back and draining a 20-footer for eagle.

His last tour win came at the 1989 U.S. Open. Strange worked as an ABC analyst from 1997 to 2004, then took on the Champions Tour after he turned 50 last year.

He admitted yesterday that, after that long a break from inside the ropes, he wasn't ready. He had just two top 10 finishes in 18 starts.

"It wasn't that I didn't work on my game last year, it was that I hadn't played enough competitive golf," Strange said. "I knew down deep I had no game. I was very apprehensive and really had to work hard. It took a long time ... longer than I thought."

Yesterday was a cure for all that on a day when Hualalai offered a cure for everybody.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.