KA'UPULEHU, Hawai'i — After watching the Champions Tour annihilate Hualalai Golf Club four rounds running now, it was suddenly easy to think the unthinkable: What if a 50-something golfer shot his age?

It is an outrageous thought that appeared awfully realistic in yesterday's opening round of the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai. Ben Crenshaw put up an early 7-under-par 65 for everybody to shoot at and pretty nearly everybody did.

Bart Bryant, putting "like Ben Crenshaw on steroids," screeched in with a 63 to seize the lead. Crenshaw and defending champion Loren Roberts share second. Hale Irwin, who has won a dozen times in Hawai'i, is tied for fourth with Allen Doyle and Jerry Pate, at 66.

Conditions were so serene yesterday, and Hualalai's conditions always so idyllic, that it was the seniors themselves who brought up the rare subject of shooting in the 50s. It has never been done on this tour, which started its 28th year yesterday.

Roberts started the 27th by obliterating a bunch of records here a year ago. He birdied or eagled half the 54 holes and finished at 25-under, a tour record and four better than any golfer shot in this tournament since it moved to the Big Island in 1997.

The average score last year was 68. Yesterday it was 68.829 Only five of the 41 golfers did not break par — including Don Pooley, last year's runner-up — and 25 shot in the 60s.

Bryant, 52, had never seen the course before this week and is suffering from chronic neck and shoulder injuries. He birdied six of the first seven and called his career-low on the Champions Tour "the best putting round I've ever had." The score matched his best ever, shot a dozen years ago when he was winning his only PGA Tour event.

"After the first three or four holes I realized for some reason I just had the ball going where I was looking with the putter and was rolling the ball at the right speed," said Bryant, who had 26 putts, missed just one green and was fourth in driving distance at 328 yards. "So really all I wanted to do was play and get out of my own way. As long as there wasn't too much conscious thought I figured I could shoot a low score.

"You get it going here you could easily shoot in the low 60s. It would not surprise me for someone to shoot in the 50s here eventually. ... There are a bunch of guys in this field that could take it very, very deep on this golf course."

Bryant was 7-under after 10, but could only manage one more birdie — a 58-foot bomb on the final green. "I made it from Waimea," he said with a grin.

He got his second Champions win last year by hitting all but one green in regulation (missing by four inches) at the Regions Charity Classic. Roberts shudders to think what could happen if Bryant did that here, and putted the way he did yesterday.

"You can't rule out 59," Roberts said. "Brad, if he gets the putter going, he hits it far enough to where he could have mid-irons into these par-5s, where he could really play aggressive. If you're going to think 59 you've got to eagle at least two of the par-5s. If you could do that, then you've got a shot at it."

Yesterday, Roberts was four off the 61 he closed with to win last year. He missed a 25-foot eagle putt on the fourth and lipped out from 10 feet for another eagle on the 10th, then drained a 20-footer on the final hole to semi-salvage his round, he said.

"To be quite honest with you, making the birdie at 18 made me feel a whole lot better about the day," said Roberts, who has been under par his last 15 rounds. "I played really solidly but the scores are so low you feel like if you're not birdieing every hole you're losing ground."

Roberts, 51, won here in his first appearance last year, going on to capture the Turtle Bay Championship and ACE Group Classic the following weeks. Crenshaw, 55, also opened with a 65 last year, but came back with a 72 and finished 25th.

"You've got to just keep going," Crenshaw said. "Know most of these fellas are going to keep throwing birdies with these conditions. You've got to just keep going forward in some fashion and try not to press. I think I did that last year quite a bit. That (leader) board there ... lots of talent. There's so much talent there. It's amazing how well these fellas can play. A lot of these fellas are playing better than they've ever played. It's wonderful to see."

NOTES

Gary Player, 71, shot better than his age yet again yesterday, firing a 3-under-par 69. It is the fifth time Player has bettered his age.

The field for the Turtle Bay Championship was finalized — minus the nine who will qualify Monday — yesterday. Of the 41 players here this week, all but Stewart Ginn, Bruce Lietzke, Pete Oakley, Ron Streck and Tom Watson will be on the North Shore. Hawai'i's David Ishii is also in the field.

Dana Quigley shot his 15th straight round in the 60s at Hualalai yesterday, Hale Irwin his 10th. This is Irwin's 12th straight appearance here, the longest current streak.

The teams of Jay Haas and Mike Reid won Thursday's Pro-Am with scores of 53.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.