KAHUKU — She's back.

Well, maybe back isn't such a good operative word for Grace Park, whose 6-under-par 66 yesterday topped the rain-abbreviated SBS Open leaderboard.

Back pains, which led to what she called "an awful season last year," have always plagued her.

At least since a seventh-grade PE class at Mid-Pacific Institute 14 years ago.

"We were doing stretching, like a flexibility test, and I tried to go really far forward and then it was stuck," Park recalled.

"I was playing (junior) golf at the time, too, and I couldn't swing because it was so painful. But everyone thought I was faking the pain so I didn't have to practice. That part of it probably was true."

Park has learned to live with an aching back, saying it's something she'll have to deal with, along with popping an Advil or two, as long as she plays golf.

"You know, keep my fingers crossed in the morning that I'm pain free," she said.

Despite a long morning that tightened her back yesterday, the only fingers Park crossed were to count the number of one-putts she sank to start off her round at the Turtle Bay Resort's Palmer Course. "The first seven holes — all one-putts," Park said.

Good thing, too, Park added, because "my ball-striking was awful."

Awful was how she described a winless 2005 when she plummeted to $368,581 in earnings after winning $1.5 million and $1.4 million the previous two years.

"Last year was difficult because I started the season out with injuries in the second event," Park said. "I came back early from it and not getting the result I wanted.

"I started to put too much pressure on myself. And I got exhausted, not just physically but mentally. By the end of the season I was pooped out."

Park worked on strengthening her back — she carries a back brace at the ready — and was anxious for the 2006 season to start.

So anxious that Park, who turns 27 on March 6, says she actually had butterflies in her stomach before teeing it up.

No wonder she was relieved to get the first round out of the way. Happy, too, that it was bogey free.

A great start to what she hopes will be a great season, not only for her, but for the LPGA Tour, which continues next week with the Fields Open in Hawai'i at the Ko Olina Resort.

Park is elated about the back-to-back season-opening events in Hawai'i, the first LPGA double-dip in the here since 2001.

"I love it. It's great that I can actually come here and spend some time with some family friends who are coming over from Korea," said Park, who went back to her native Seoul to earn a degree from Ehwa Women's College in 2003.

She also plans to get together with Ashley Adleta, University of Hawai'i women's golf coach, who was Park's assistant coach at Arizona State.

"I'll spend Saturday night with her, do some shopping and just relax until I set out for Ko Olina," Park said.

In the meantime, there's a lot of unfinished business left for Park, who saw her streak of winning at least one tournament a year since 2000 come to a halt with that "awful season."

She hopes to make it back to the winner's circle. Aching back and all.