On a rare benign day at Waialae Country Club, K.J. Choi bolted to the top of a leaderboard that expanded by the minute in yesterday's first round of the Sony Open in Hawai'i. Tadd Fujikawa, the hometown hero of the PGA Tour's first full-field event last year, headed in the other direction.

Choi got up and down from the bunker for birdie on the final hole to shoot a 6-under-par 64 and break away from a trio made up of Nationwide Tour graduates Steve Marino, Jimmy Walker and Heath Slocum. Marino took 34th here last year as a rookie, despite the distraction of playing with Michelle Wie the first two days.

"I kind of embraced it last year, playing with her right off the bat just because I knew if I wanted to play out here I was going to have to get used to that kind of atmosphere ...," Marino said. "I shocked myself that I was able to handle it so well.

"I told my caddie on the first tee (yesterday), this time last year I was standing on the first tee with Michelle Wie with about 3,000 people right behind us. It was a little bit different, but it was nice."

Choi, No. 9 in the World Golf Ranking, won twice last year and, with $4.6 million, had his best season. He has won six times on this tour, most of any Asian player. This is his seventh Sony and he has two Top 10s, including fourth last year.

Choi is comfortable here and feels his fan base has grown immensely with his success, and the popularity of golf in general.

"Back when I won in 2002, at those tournaments it was more a small group of Korean hard-core K.J. fans," said Choi, who struggled with his putting last week and finished third-to-last at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. "Now ... I think I'm getting a lot more support from a wider spectrum of fans. Not just Koreans but Asians, Americans."

Walker leap-frogged a mob at 4-under in the morning when he eagled his final hole from just inside 13 feet; the others joined him in the afternoon while the group at 66 expanded to nine.

The 2004 Nationwide Player of the Year, who shares a swing coach with Fujikawa (Todd Anderson), is making his third Hawai'i appearance. Already it is, by far, the best. In 2005, he injured his neck here the first week of his first PGA Tour season. He had to withdraw, played just nine tournaments that year, then came back in 2006 and opened with an 80.

Slocum won three Nationwide events in 2001 to move up to the big leagues. He has won twice and had five Top 10s last year, which was his best season financially ($2.2 million), and definitely personally. His first child, Stella, was born Dec. 10.

"I knew it was going to be hard, but it was very hard to leave," he said. "I know I'm not going to see her for two weeks. There's lots of pictures every night. It's just funny that she's changed already in five days. My wife said she's doing new things and you hate to miss it."

More than half the field (78) broke par on a day so serene the only "element" of difficulty was Waialae's gnarly rough, made thick and unforgiving by all the rain. Marino figured the odds of getting to the green were 10 percent if you missed a fairway and many golfers missed many, particularly those from Hawai'i.

Fujikawa found just five, and hit 10 greens in regulation. A year ago, while becoming the youngest in 50 years to make a PGA Tour cut, the 16-year-old led the field in GIR at 75 percent. He turned pro seven months later and has missed all eight cuts so far as a pro.

His hope for a Sony sequel started with a 74 yesterday ? he was 5-over on the front nine ? and he needs to jump over some 65 golfers today to make the cut. Along with his troubles off the tee, the longest putt he made was from just inside eight feet for his third and final birdie, at the 17th.

Fujikawa has no doubt he can do it, saying he will need some "magic," but insisting it is possible because it has been "proven" ? by him.

"I just need to get off to a good start tomorrow," Fujikawa said, then started ticking off holes where birdie was "very" possible, beginning with No. 10, where he tees off today at 1:30 p.m. He added No. 11 and then 12, which he nearly eagled yesterday, hitting the pin from 160 yards and "settling" for an 11-inch birdie.

In Fujikawa's 17-year-old mind, every hole is another possibility. And if last year's 20th-place finish here didn't prove it, then maybe the double eagle in Switzerland or the hole-in-one at Boise, Idaho, did. He might not have made a professional cut yet, but he was hardly short on excitement in 2007.

Punahou senior Alex Ching, who earned the amateur slot this year that propelled Fujikawa to fame, had his share of excitement in his Sony debut. He shot 72, birdieing the ninth hole with two putts ? "I was honored to make a birdie" ? to play the front nine in even-par, then suffering two bogeys on the back.

Until Dean Wilson, just starting his seventh season on the PGA Tour, came in with a 71, Ching was the low man of the five players from Hawai'i. He will play high school golf for the first time this year before heading to the University of San Diego, to play for Phil Mickelson's brother Tim. Ching is also still hoping to pick up a third state doubles championship in May, though the seasons are at the same time.

NOTEBOOK

Ryo Ishikawa, known as "Shy Prince" to adoring fans in Japan, turned pro yesterday at the age of 16 and will play in the Hawai'i Pearl Open, Feb. 8 to 10 at Pearl Country Club. Tadd Fujikawa won last year's Pearl Open at age 16, but will probably not defend this year because he received an exemption to play in the PGA Tour's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am the same week.

Last year, Ishikawa became the youngest to ever win a Japanese men's tour event, capturing the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup as an amateur. He is now the youngest pro in Japan golf history.

Hawaii Medical Assurance Association, a health care insurance provider for Hawai'i businesses, officially announced its sponsorship of Tadd Fujikawa yesterday. It is his third endorsement deal.

"It feels really great to have a company like HMAA believe in me," Fujikawa said in a release. "And it comes at a good time, going into another professional tour event here in front of a home crowd when everything that boosts my confidence can make a difference."

HMAA will be the health insurer of Tadd Fujikawa Holdings, LLC, a small-business entity established recently by the Fujikawa family to support Tadd's career as a professional golfer.

"HMAA is proud to support Tadd Fujikawa," said John Henry Felix, chairman and CEO of HMAA. "Tadd is hard working, has the humility of a true champion and displays genuine aloha spirit. He represents local values and is an outstanding ambassador for Hawai'i as he travels the world. We're excited to be a part of that."

Paul Goydos opened with a 70 in defense of his Sony Open title. At 43, Goydos is the oldest player to defend at Waialae since Howard Twitty in 1994. Twitty won in 1993, two days after his 44th birthday.

Dean Wilson's team tied for second at Wednesday's Pro-Am with a score of 55. Pat Perez and his amateur team won with a 51.

No one hit all 14 fairways at Waialae yesterday. The course has ranked second and first in Driving Accuracy difficulty the past two years on tour. The scoring average last year was 70.27. Yesterday, it was 69.521.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.