KAUPULEHU — The wind stayed at bay at Hualalai on Thursday during the first round of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship. The low scores did not.
In the field of 44 golfers, 36 shot even par or better at the PGA Tour Champions season-opening event, with Gene Sauers and Jerry Kelly leading the way with rounds of 8-under 64.
Sauers played bogey-free golf in just his third round at Hualalai. During his debut on the Big Island last season, he was in contention after going 12-under through two days, but didn’t get a chance to chase the leaders down when the final round was called off.
Call it unfinished business for Sauers, someone who knows a thing or two about never giving up the fight. He earned the PGA Courage Award last season for battling through Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a rare and painful skin condition which caused skin to burn from the inside out.
“I was actually playing pretty good,” Sauers said, recalling his tournament last year on the Big Island. “It could have went one way or the other way, who knows. We couldn’t play it anyway — the palm trees were about to snap.”
The winds were blowing hard along the Kona coast on Wednesday during the Pro-Am, and the same conditions were expected for the opening round. But instead, golfers were greeted by cloudless skies and just a light breeze.
“We got lucky. Thank goodness it didn’t blow,” Sauers said. “You never know around here. You’ve just got to play your game and just try to eliminate mistakes and just give yourself opportunities.”
Kelly gave himself plenty of opportunities to play in the final grouping today, especially on the back nine. The Champions Tour newly-minted Rookie of the Year reeled off birdies on six of his final nine holes — including an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 18 — to move into a tie with Sauers.
He is one of only two players in the tournament — Vijay Singh being the other — who played in the Sony Open last week on Oahu. He tied for 14th in Honolulu and kept up his strong play.
“Last week helped a lot just to prepare because I took my first two months off since probably 1989 when I turned pro,” Kelly said. “I played really well last week. If I would have putted like I did today, I would have won, easy.”
Kelly is seeking to become the 10th player to win in their first try on the Big Island. However, he’s a rookie only in name at Hualalai.
“This is my first tournament round here, but I’ve played many rounds here,” Kelly said. “I love the islands. I have fun over here every single time and this is where I come to prepare for the season. Been coming here for years and it still didn’t help me get in the tournament last year. I couldn’t, so I had to fight my way in here and it felt good to do that.”
Rocco Mediate and Colin Montgomerie are one shot back, and Fred Couples, Kevin Sutherland and Kirk Triplett are two back.
Mediate has been a fixture in the top 10 at Hualalai since his debut in 2014, finishing there in all three of his starts (he didn’t play the tournament in 2016).
Mediate teed off early in the third group of the day, so he spent most of the afternoon as the clubhouse leader after turning in a 65. But after his second best round at Hualalai — his best being a 63 in 2014 — Mediate wasn’t convinced he would be sitting atop the leaderboard when the day was over.
“If you’re not shooting low scores, you’re done. Seven won’t be leading after this, more than likely,” he said standing just off the 18th green.
He was right, but that didn’t put a damper on his mood.
“I’ve always liked this place. We were expecting way more wind, which is fine, either way’s fine. This golf course is built for wind, but it was good, fun.”
Defending and three-time Hualalai champion Bernhard Langer is in a log-jam at 3-under 69. He’s never shot worse than par in a round at Hualalai.
