Shigeki Maruyama’s bright yellow ball wasn’t the only thing that stood out about his round yesterday.

Playing on a sponsor’s exemption, the crowd favorite shot a 5-under 65, matching his best professional round ever at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Maruyama, who opened with the same score two years ago, has played in all 13 Sony Opens, placing in the top 10 three times.

"I love playing here," he said. "It’s not a long course like we find out on the tour most weeks. The rough isn’t real deep, and there’s not a lot of lakes and hazards, so I can really enjoy playing here."

With a gallery matching anybody else’s yesterday in size, Maruyama was accurate off the tee, hitting 11 of 14 fairways. He needed only 28 putts and followed up a bogey on No. 17 with a birdie on 18 to join a group of eight other golfers behind leader Stuart Appleby.

"I really hit my driver well, really put it in the fairway all day long, and I was hitting really good putts," Maruyama said. "I was able to get a really good lie and go after the pins, so that really was the key."

Sitting at 1 over through five, Maruyama birdied five consecutive holes to get himself on the leaderboard.

He drew a nice cheer on 18 when he sunk a 6-foot putt for birdie, his eighth of the day.

"This is the No. 1 tour spot for Japanese to come here in Hawaii, and it helps me to have a lot of gallery fans pulling for me," he said.

Defending champ in hunt

Defending champion Ryan Palmer shot a bogey-free 2-under-par 68. He birdied the par-5 No. 9 hole and the par-4 No. 16.

"I hit the ball good," Palmer said. "I drove it pretty good. My irons weren’t as crisp as I could have had, but my short game was there when I needed it. … It’s good to get off to a good start."

Palmer wore a microphone during the round, and had some fun with it when he encountered some ants. "I feel threatened," he said, mockingly.

"I honestly didn’t feel like I had (the mic) on me most of the time," Palmer said. "I felt it in my shirt just from my arm hitting it, but other than that, I hope it came off good."

Forgetful Appleby

Yesterday was first-day leader Stuart Appleby‘s best round here in 11 years.

Not that he remembered his previous best, a second-place finish to Paul Azinger in 2000 that opened with a 66.

"Don’t remember it," Appleby said after shooting a 6-under par 64, good for a one-shot lead yesterday over nine golfers.

"I don’t have a great memory for looking back on scores. They don’t really mean that much to me. Gary Player can mention numerous whatever rounds and what clubs he hit and, come Sunday, I might be able to remember. I’ll remember hole 17 or 16, but that’s probably all I’ll remember."

The par-4 16th was where he landed an eagle yesterday.

Hayashi in Hall of Fame

Earning the final spot in the Sony Open field on Monday altered Kevin Hayashi‘s plans for the week.

Not that he’s complaining.

The Hilo pro entered the Monday qualifier not really expecting to make the cut and figured he’d fly to Oahu for last night’s induction into the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame.

But he won a playoff for the fourth and final spot to scuttle that plan and he opened his 10th appearance in a Hawaiian/ Sony Open with a 5-over-par 75.

"It’s a crazy week for me, but I’m just trying to soak it in, trying to enjoy things," Hayashi said before heading to the ceremony.

"It’s hard to enjoy it when you’re making bogeys out there, but I’ll try to enjoy it tonight."

Hayashi spent part of Thursday’s day off by attending the Earth, Wind and Fire concert at the Hawaii Convention Center and entered the Hall of Fame with Greg Meyer last night. Making the cut today will be tough, but the chance to tee it up again in the event remains quite a payoff in itself.

"I think it’s a little more special now because I don’t know when my last Sony will be," Hayashi said.

Course in solid shape

After Wednesday night’s storm rendered the course unplayable on Thursday, the tournament opened under lift, clean and place rules. But the players were impressed with the condition of the course considering the amount of rain it absorbed.

"We had a lot of rain and the course is in perfect shape," Dean Wilson said. "I can imagine what work the grounds crew put in just to get this round in."

There were still a few reminders of the rain remaining yesterday morning as crews continued to work on the fairway bunkers on No. 18 after play began.