STUART APPLEBY LEADS SONY OPEN WITH A SIX-UNDER 64

FROM THE GOLF.COM WEBSITE
HONOLULU (AP) — The Sony Open took a while to get started. So did Stuart Appleby.
Appleby was humming along on rain-soaked Waialae Country Club, no bogeys on his cards but not many birdies, either. That changed when he holed a 163yd shot from the fairway and a 35ft putt on the next green to finish with a 6-under 64.
That gave the Australian a one-shot lead over nine players from Matt Kuchar and England's Justin Rose to a pair of rookies in Nate Smith and Ben Martin. In soft condition and only a light breeze, 65 players in the 144-man field broke par.
Appleby shot 30 on the back nine, including a chip-in from the front of the 12th green. Then came a strong finish, with a 5-iron that he holed out for eagle on the 16th and the long birdie putt on the 17th.
"Less than two hours, really went from a pretty plain round to a good round," Appleby said.
No one could catch him in the afternoon. Shigeki Maruyama, a popular figure in these parts, was at 5 under through 12 holes until he dropped a few shots on the back and had to birdie the 18th for a 65.
Martin, who just graduated from Clemson University last year, wasn't sure what to expect. It wasn't the ideal preparation for his first regular US PGA Tour event, although it was out of his hands. He had to do a commercial shoot on Tuesday, then couldn't practise Wednesday because the range was closed and didn't play Thursday when rain washed out the opening round.
"I hadn't hit a golf shot in three days," he said.
He hit most of them quite well in the opening round. Five of his birdies were from inside 8 feet, and two others came on the par 5s that he reached in two. It helped to have some experience on the bag. Martin sent his caddie to California to study the four courses used in the Bob Hope Classic, and he used Frank Williams, the long-time caddie for Stewart Cink, who was coming to Hawaii on vacation.
Martin hadn't never seen Waialae until this week, so the soft conditions didn't feel different.
That wasn't the case for the veterans.
"I have never seen the course like this," Steve Stricker said after rallying for a 69. The fairways were too wet to mow, and grass clippings that had been floating in water created yellow patches of debris.
Appleby said the course was "heavy," but he had no complaints. Players were allowed to lift, clean and place their golf balls through the fairway, although some players felt by the end of the day it wasn't necessary.
"Much better than I expected," said Kuchar, who made a long eagle putt on the ninth and made only one bogey.
Appleby was among those who started his season last week on Maui, and it was a struggle. The Sony Open offers a completely different test, minus the mountainous terrain and the severe slope on the greens with a strong grain.
He felt more relaxed here, and the finish helped.
Appleby chipped in for birdie from in front of the 12th green - "sort of freshened up that par, par, par I had the first couple hours on the front nine," he said - added a birdie on the 13th and then finished with a flourish. With a slight breeze off the Pacific, from a 163 yards away on the 16th, he hit an easy 5-iron right of the flag and was surprised to hear the cheer when it went in for an eagle.
Before long, a good score was a great one. It was his lowest opening round in 10 years at the Sony Open.
Appleby played in the same group with Rose, and Appleby thought the Englishman played far better from tee to green, the difference perhaps being that Rose didn't hole any full shots from the fairway.
Rose opened with a 75 last week and played well from there, finishing in a tie for 12th.
"I didn't panic, just really realised that it was a good week to knock off some rust and start growing some good habits," he said. "And the week kind of evolved and I got better every day. It was nice to carry that on into this week."
This week figures to be different. Because an entire round was washed out, the plan is to play the second round on Saturday, followed by a 36-hole marathon on Sunday.
Some players did well to rally. Vijay Singh, playing for only the second time in the last four months, was 4 over through six holes. He birdied four of his last six holes for a 70.
And then there was Charles Warren, who got into the Sony Open through his top-10 finish at Disney in the final tournament of the year. Warren birdied his last hole at Disney, which not only put him in Honolulu to start the year, but got him inside the top 150 on the money list to give him at least conditional status.
He promptly made three straight bogeys to start his season and was 4 over through six holes. It took him until the eighth hole to take honors from 67-year-old Dave Eichelberger, playing as local club pro for winning the Aloha Section. But Warren turned it around by playing 5 under over his last 10 holes for a 69.
Eichelberger had a 76, and that wasn't the worst of it. Michael Thompson, one of 27 rookies at Waialae, posted the first 80 on the US Tour this year. One of the veterans, Jeff Maggert, had a 75.
"Almost shot my age," said Maggert, who at 46 has been around long enough to laugh at himself;"
FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 70
1 Stuart Appleby 64
T2 Justin Rose 65
T2 Mark Wilson 65
T2 Nate Smith 65
T2 Steve Marino 65
T2 Matt Kuchar 65
T2 Michael Connell 65
T2 Marc Leishman 65
T2 Shigeki Maruyama 65
T2 Ben Martin 65
T11 Chris Riley 66
T11 WC Liang 66
T13 Chad Campbell 67
T13 Roland Thatcher 67
T13 Billy Mayfair 67
T13 Chris DiMarco 67
T13 Kent Jones 67
T13 Brandt Jobe 67
T13 Arjun Atwal 67
T13 Jeff Overton 67
T13 Kevin Na 67
T13 Scott Gutschewski 67
T13 Steven Bowditch 67
T24 Webb Simpson 68
T24 Jimmy Walker 68
T24 Davis Love III 68
T24 Matt Bettencourt 68
T24 Jason Bohn 68
T24 Brian Davis 68
T24 Charles Howell III 68
T24 John Daly 68
T24 Matt McQuillan 68
T24 Chris Kirk 68
T24 Alexandre Rocha 68
T24 Tag Ridings 68
T24 Michael Sim 68
T24 Boo Weekley 68
T24 Ryan Palmer 68
T24 Tim Clark 68
T24 Jerry Kelly 68
T24 Charlie Wi 68
T24 Brendon de Jonge 68
T24 Fredrik Jacobson 68
T24 Jarrod Lyle 68
T24 Colt Knost 68
T46 Charles Warren 69
T46 Duffy Waldorf 69
T46 Jason Dufner 69
T46 Jim Renner 69
T46 Heath Slocum 69
T46 Brian Gay 69
T46 Jonathan Byrd 69
T46 Fred Funk 69
T46 Peter Tomasulo 69
T46 John Merrick 69
T46 Jeff Klauk 69
T46 Steve Stricker 69
T46 Jason Day 69
T46 Rory Sabbatini 69
T46 Cameron Beckman 69
T46 Pat Perez 69
T46 Paul Goydos 69
T46 Johnson Wagner 69
T46 Zack Miller 69
T46 Jim Herman 69
T66 Josh Teater 70
T66 Jesper Parnevik 70
T66 Jim Furyk 70
T66 Ernie Els 70
T66 Justin Leonard 70
T66 Nathan Green 70
T66 Spencer Levin 70
T66 Keegan Bradley 70
T66 Alex Cejka 70
T66 Chad Collins 70
T66 Bo Van Pelt 70
T66 K.J. Choi 70
T66 Vijay Singh 70
T66 Rocco Mediate 70
T66 Alex Prugh 70
T66 Kevin Chappell 70
T66 Fabian Gomez 70
T66 D.J. Brigman 70
T66 Michio Matsumura 70
T85 Troy Merritt 71
T85 Steve Flesch 71
T85 Derek Lamely 71
T85 Marc Turnesa 71
T85 Dean H. Wilson 71
T85 Tim Petrovic 71
T85 Tony Finau 71
T85 Jhonattan Vegas 71
T85 David Hearn 71
T85 David Mathis 71
T85 Daniel Summerhays 71
T85 Matt Jones 71
T85 John Senden 71
T85 Anthony Kim 71
T85 David Saka 71
T85 Kyle Stanley 71
T85 Joseph Bramlett 71
T102 Carl Pettersson 72
T102 Adam Scott 72
T102 Troy Matteson 72
T102 David Duval 72
T102 Jamie Lovemark 72
T102 Michael Putnam 72
T102 Bobby Gates 72
T102 Sunghoon Kang 72
T102 Blake Adams 72
T102 Zach Johnson 72
T102 Robert Allenby 72
T113 Aaron Baddeley 73
T113 Joe Durant 73
T113 Robert Garrigus 73
T113 Scott Stallings 73
T113 Tadahiro Takayama 73
T113 Gary Woodland 73
T113 Joe Affrunti 73
T113 Ryuji Imada 73
T113 D.J. Trahan 73
T113 Chris Baryla 73
T113 Koumei Oda 73
T113 Martin Piller 73
T113 Bio Kim +3 73
T113 Doug LaBelle II 73