A little guy off the Japan Tour towered over the bigger names in Friday’s opening round of the inaugural Pacific Links Hawaii Championship, but it wasn’t Hawaii’s David Ishii.

Australian Peter Senior slipped through the wind at Kapolei Golf Course for a bogey-free round of 7-under-par 65. He is a shot ahead of Jay Don Blake and Bill Glasson and two up on Mark McNulty  and Eduardo Romero, who had the only bogey among the top five.

Ishii, now playing the Japan senior tour when he’s not coaching kids at Pearl Country Club, was hobbled by a back injury and struggled to a 77 Friday — with two chip-ins. 

Senior golfed with Ishii for six years on the Japan PGA Tour, where Ishii won 14 times — enough to earn an exemption here and a place in the Hawaii Golf Hall of Fame.

Three of Senior’s 27 wins came in Japan. His last win came at home two years ago, when he beat Geoff Ogilvy in a playoff to become the oldest Australian PGA champion.

It was his third win in that Aussie major and only victory since 2003. Senior took nearly 10 years off to be with his kids before earning medalist honors at the 2009 Champions Tour qualifying school. 

With son Mitchell on his bag, he was second in top 10s to Tom Lehman last year. He has four runner-up finishes since he embarked on the senior tour, losing two playoffs last year.

Senior admits it bothers him.

“I’ve had a lot of opportunities,” he said. “Three years is a long time. I’d really liked to have won.

“I haven’t given them away. The guys have won the events. It’s not like I’ve choked coming down the stretch, I just haven’t made enough putts.”

He came close to bogey just once Friday, sinking a 12-foot par putt on his seventh hole. It might have been his best stroke of the day based simply on what it did for him the rest of the round.

“I putted the last 12 holes as well as I’ve putted all year,” said Senior.

He ranks ninth in putting and believes his scrambling has salvaged a season where he “hasn’t played as well as I’ve liked.”

And still, he is 13th on the money list with $815,000. Blake is 12th and won the Champions Tour’s last stop, beating Mark O’Meara in a playoff. He finished second at the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai and won twice last year.

Blake had six birdies in his first 10 holes Friday, including a chip-in from 50 feet at the 18th. He couldn’t catch Senior when his birdie putts veered off the final eight holes, including three within 10 feet.

“It seemed liked it got harder and harder,” Blake said, “and the wind (gusting to 20 mph) kind of changed directions, too.

“I didn’t really make any mistakes, just played solid all the way around. The driver … I hit a few shots in the rough, but I just get up there and try and bomb it down there as far as I can, then try and hit it again.”

Lehman, who is third on the money list, played the final five holes in 3 under to pull into sixth, at 68. Corey Pavin, 11th on the money list, is a shot behind him, in a group that includes Gary McCord and Tom Kite.

Hilo’s Kevin Hayashi had the best finish of the five Hawaii players — in addition to Hayashi, Ishii, Casey Nakama and Dave Eichelberger, Scott Simpson is coming back to teach at Ko Olina after the season is over. Hayashi shot 72 and is tied for 37th.

 _________

PACIFIC LINKS HAWAII CHAMPIONSHIP TEE TIMES

TODAY’S SECOND ROUND

FIRST TEE
9:10 a.m. — Chip Beck, Tom Byrum, Steve Lowery
9:20 a.m. — Jeff Hart, Lance Ten Broeck, Jeff Freeman
9:30 a.m. — Ted Schulz, John Cook, Gil Morgan
9:40 a.m. — Mark Brooks, Ben Bates, Larry Mize
9:50 a.m. — Bobby Clampett, David Peoples, Tom Jenkins,
10 a.m. — Mark O’Meara, Rod Spittle, Eaks, R.W.
10:10 a.m. — Morris Hatalsky, Rick Fehr, Bruce Vaughan,
10:20 a.m. — Bob Tway, Gene Sauers, Chien Soon Lu
10:30 a.m. — David Frost, Corey Pavin, Dick Mast
10:40 a.m. — Gary McCord, Tom Kite, Bob Gilder
10:50 a.m. — Willie Wood, Tom Lehman, Tom Purtzer,
11 a.m. — Mark McNulty, Eduardo Romero, Duffy Waldorf
11:10 a.m. — Peter Senior, Bill Glasson, Jay DonBlake

10TH TEE
9:10 a.m. — Andrew Magee, Tommy Armour III, Jim Gallagher, Jr.
9:20 a.m. — Craig Stadler, Tom Pernice Jr., Blaine McCallister
9:30 a.m. — Mike Goodes, Dan Forsman, Gary Hallberg
9:40 a.m. — Joe Daley, Kevin Hayashi, Brad Bryant
9:50 a.m. — Jim Rutledge, Danny Briggs, James Mason
10 a.m. — David Eger, Jeff Sluman, Michael Allen
10:10 a.m. — Mark Wiebe, Frankie Minoza, Steve Pate
10:20 a.m. — Ronnie Black, John Jacobs, Hale Irwin
10:30 a.m. — Bobby Wadkins, Steve Jones, Fred Funk
10:40 a.m. — Sonny Skinner, Scott Simpson, Mark W. Johnson
10:50 a.m. — Brad Faxon, Mike Reid, P.H. Horgan III
11:00 a.m. — Dave Eichelberger, David Ishii, Isao Aoki
11:10 a.m. — Joel Edwards, Kirk Triplett, Joe Ozaki
11:20 a.m. — Mike Hulbert, Robin Freeman, Casey Nakama

__________