KAPALUA, Maui » After last year’s wind-blown weirdness and Thursday’s strange storm, apparently everyone started at zero for this year’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Only two of the four leaders who shot 7-under-par 66 in Friday’s first round — 2012 U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson and Chris Kirk — had seen Kapalua’s Plantation Course before this week. And even Simpson, who has a pair of top-11 finishes on Maui, hadn’t seen Friday’s hybrid wind before.

It might have been the great equalizer.

"Every time I’ve played here, it’s either been a Kona or a tradewind and today we kind of had in between," said Simpson, who birdied three of the last four holes. "I guess that’s what it was today.

"When it’s this windy, a lot of luck is involved, and so you can get away with certain shots. Like I hit two wedge shots today, one of them I thought was perfect and it was long, and the next one I thought was perfect and it was short, 20 feet each. So a lot of luck’s involved."

He and playing partner Jordan Spieth, the Tour’s rookie of the year, put together 15 birdies and a best-ball score of 11 under. Spieth did not have a bogey — or even "much of a scare" — in his first real look at Plantation. He attributed that to a couple of pure long irons he hit early, when the wind was at its worst.

"It was a little weird today," said Spieth, who has won nearly $4 million since turning pro less than 13 months ago. "It was calm at the beginning and just a little breeze and then all of a sudden, middle of the round, the wind just picked up around 5, 6, 7 and 8, started howling, and then kind of died back down."

He, Simpson and Kirk, who birdied his last five, share the lead with Michael Thompson, who birdied four of the last five.

Thompson and Kirk — seventh here two years ago — were born within three weeks of each other in 1985. Simpson is three months younger than Kirk. Spieth is 20 and one of 13 first-time winners making his TOC debut.

The newbies embraced the Plantation’s massive fairways, big greens and bigger winds, which blew away the start of last year’s season three straight days.

This year, Thursday night’s freak storm over Oahu found its way to Maui early in the morning and was all but out of sight and out of mind by the time the first drive of 2013 was taken. In its place were north winds of up to 20 mph.

Kevin Streelman, inspired by 6-day-old daughter Sophie, holed out from 97 yards on the third hole and was the only guy to get to 8 under, after a two-putt birdie on the par-4 14th.

He bogeyed the last two holes to fall into a fifth-place tie with Ryan Moore, 2009 Sony Open in Hawaii champion Zach Johnson and reigning PGA champion Jason Dufner at 67.

Streelman is also a rookie here. The 13 making their Maui debut shot a cumulative 33 under Friday. That includes last-place Derek Ernst (79).

He and Jonas Blixt were the only two not at par or better in the field of 30 champions from 2013. They tee off first today at 7:30 a.m.

Maybe the Plantation’s sheer size is the real equalizer.

"I think it is, just in the sense that the rolls and the way the golf course goes is obvious, with how big the slopes are," Simpson said. "But I’ve always thought, since three years ago when I came here for the first time, it’s a great place to start, because the fairways are so wide and the greens are so big.

"You can come here a little rusty and get away with shots that you wouldn’t be able to at Waialae. I think that if this tournament was at a very tough golf course, demanding off the tee, then first-timers would have a difficult time. But I’m not surprised to see them up there."

Spieth agreed, with an asterisk.

"The guys last year, obviously, were talking about how it was just crazy with the winds," he said. "What I’ve heard in the past, what anyone has ever told me, is that it’s just a hard walk."

Thompson also talked about how much easier it will be to walk at next week’s Sony Open, where he finished sixth two years ago.

But Kirk might be looking forward to Waialae Country Club most. He shot a second-round 62 there last year, finishing fifth. His second son is just two weeks old, but he will be on Oahu next week.

"I played just kind of OK there my first two years on tour," Kirk said, "but it’s always a tournament that I’ve really liked a lot. It’s such a fun, relaxing week for us to stay right there at the course. I think it’s a great golf course.

"We still have a few of the old, kind of classic, old-school type of courses like that on our schedule, and that’s really one of the great ones. It’s a course that, given some firm and fast conditions and a little bit of wind, you take a golf course that’s really not that long and dead flat and it could be really difficult."