Bryant shot a 9-under 63 Friday in the Champions Tour's season-opening MasterCard Championship to take a two-stroke lead over defending champion Loren Roberts and Ben Crenshaw.

"All I wanted to do was play and try to get out of my own way," Bryant said. "As long as I didn't use too much conscious thought, I figured I was going to shoot a pretty low score. Sure enough, it ended up that way."

He made putt after putt, birdieing six of the first seven holes, to make the turn at 30. He capped his round by holing a dead-straight 58-foot birdie putt on No. 18 that seemed to roll forever across the green.

"I made every putt I looked at. It was amazing," Bryant said. "I don't know. I wish I knew how it happened because you'd like to be able to keep it around.

"I putted sort of like Ben Crenshaw on steroids."

He even made a birdie when things didn't go his way. After driving way left on the 551-yard fifth, he used his hybrid club from the rough and chipped for a tap-in birdie.

The 63 matched a career low for Bryant. He shot a 63 in the second round of the 1995 Walt Disney World Classic, his only PGA Tour victory.

He had 10 top-10 finishes last year, including wins in the Toshiba Classic and Regions Charity Classic and four runner-up finishes. He finished third on the money list with $1.7 million, behind Jay Haas and Roberts.

The field of 41 had ideal clear conditions with temperatures in the low 80s and only a soft ocean breeze. The players raved about the perfect greens.

Only five players failed to break par and the field averaged 68.8 strokes on the wide-open Jack Nicklaus-designed course.

"I'd rather play Tiger Woods every week than the guys out here," Fred Funk joked as he walked the fairway. Funk was at 68, five strokes behind Bryant.

Roberts, who won four events last year including his first three starts, said with the course playing so easy, he'll need to stay aggressive.

"So you're just going to have to keep your foot on the gas pedal all the way until Sunday," he said.

Roberts, who shot his 15th straight sub-par round, had six birdies in his bogey-free round and just missed two eagle opportunities on Nos. 4 and 10.

Last year, Roberts had a 25-under 191 total to break the tour record for relation to par in a 54-hole event and tie the stroke mark. He also broke the record for birdies in a three-round tournament with 26.

Crenshaw, who turned 55 this month, opened with a 65 for the second straight year, carding a 31 on the back nine including birdies on Nos. 10, 11, 12 and 14.

The 19-time PGA Tour winner is one of four invited player at Hualalai, along with Gary Player, Raymond Floyd and Lanny Wadkins. Crenshaw's best finish last year was a fourth-place tie in the AT&T Championship.

"Knowing that most of these fellers are going to keep going low in these conditions, you just got to keep going forward," Crenshaw said. "Keep staying aggressive and try not to press. I think I did that last year quite a bit."

Hale Irwin, coming off his first winless season in 12 years, joined Allen Doyle and Jerry Pate at 66 in the event limited to major champions in the last five years and other tournament winners in the last two years.

Irwin has always played well in Hawaii, where he has recorded eight of his record 44 senior tour wins. He also won the 1981 Hawaiian Open on the PGA Tour.

Dana Quigley, who won the MasterCard in 2005 and '03, was in the group at 67, along with Eduardo Romero, Craig Stadler, Gil Morgan, Tom Kite, Tom Jenkins and D.A Weibring.

On his golden wedding anniversary, the 71-year-old Player bettered his age by two strokes with a 69. He has broken his age five times in his career, including twice in 2006.

Player and wife Vivienne celebrated their 50th year on marriage on Friday. They have six children and 18 grandchildren.