Nine-Under-Par 63 Gives Twitty Two-Shot Lead in Hawaiian Open

ard Twitty shot a nine-under-par 63 Thursday to take the lead after the first round of the Hawaiian Open.

Twitty leads by two shots over Bill Glasson and three over Mark O’Meara and Tom Lehman at the revamped Waialae Country Club course.

“It’s a different golf course than when I won in ‘85, much more difficult,” O’Meara said after his first competitive round at Waialae since 1986.

Despite much deeper rough and mounding on most of the holes on the course, nestled under the shoulder of Diamond Head, Waialae wasn’t tough on Twitty, Glasson and O’Meara.

It yielded what O’Meara called “a couple of good breaks” in the first full-field event on the PGA Tour schedule.

Tom Lehman got around without a bogey, as did Glasson, who, like Twitty, also played the round without a five on his scorecard.

“You can’t complain after a 66. Not ever,” Lehman said, complaining about his putting. “But I wasn’t stroking it well at all. I just hit it so close I had to make a few of them.”

Despite his bogey-free effort, he agreed with O’Meara that Waialae was significantly more difficult, “about two shots a round,” he said.

“It used to be that you had to play really bad to shoot 75. But now, with the mounds and the rough, it’s pretty easy to get it going bad.”

Fred Funk and Australian Brett Ogle were at 67. Corey Pavin and Kelly Gibson shot 68 and Davis Love had a 69.

Defending champion John Cook shot a 72.