Chris Kirk prefers "old school" layouts such as Waialae Country Club’s relatively flat track compared to hiking the hills of Kapalua’s Plantation Course.

After an undulating performance in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions on Maui last week, Kirk made an impressive climb in the opening round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Kirk couldn’t take advantage of a calm morning by Waialae’s standards early on and was 2 over par through seven holes on Thursday. He then played the next 11 at 8 under, closing with an eagle to cap a round of 6-under-par 64.

Kirk’s 15-foot eagle putt on No. 18 punctuated a remarkable 29 on the back nine.

"By that point I was hitting my lines," Kirk said. "It’s nice to get in those zones where you just kind of feel like, ‘All I have to do is read this right and I’m going to make it.’ It doesn’t happen that often, but it’s nice to get those little runs every now and then.

"I’m thankful I didn’t get too discouraged after a little bit of a rough start and my game is in pretty good shape and thankfully it came through for me."

Kirk watched as playing partner Sang-Moon Bae tore through the front nine at 5 under on his way to a 63 that sent him to the clubhouse with the lead. He nearly caught Bae with his charge on the back nine, drawing to within a stroke when he fired his second shot on No. 18 from the fairway bunker to inside of 15 feet from the cup to set up his eagle.

"It took some catching up for me on the back nine, but it’s always nice to see putts falling and it’ll give you a good feel for it," Kirk said.

Kirk –well trained on Bermuda greens coming out of Georgia — has shown a nice feel for Waialae in three previous Sony Open appearances. Out of 13 rounds, he’s scored in the 60s 11 times, including a career-low 62 in the second round last year.

He finished tied for fifth with a four-day total of 16-under 264 and the $204,400 he earned here contributed to a season total over $1.7 million with three top-10s to his credit. He arrived in Hawaii this year with more than a million already banked this season, the bulk provided by a victory at the The McGladrey Classic in November.

"I worked a lot on my game that offseason, and to come here get rewarded for it the first week out (last year) was great and had a really solid year and hoping I can do it again this year," Kirk said.

Kirk posted three rounds of 66 at The McGladrey Classic and another in the first round last week on Maui when he ended the day with five consecutive birdies. He followed with rounds of 75, 68 and 73 in finishing 10 under and tied for 16th before making the transition to Waialae.

"They’re both great golf courses, kind of polar opposites, Maui having so much slope and big elevation changes. I think I’ve traditionally played better on flatter, old-school type of courses like this one," Kirk said. "They tend to suit my game a little bit better. So it’s nice to have a little easier course to walk, too."

Kirk didn’t make things all that easy on himself after teeing off at 7:50 a.m. He bogeyed the third and sixth holes before turning his day around on No. 8, where he stuck his approach inside of 2 feet to set up the first of his six birdies. He made a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 9 and a tricky par save on the 10th sent him on his way.

"It was pretty cool to get on a run like that, for sure, but I didn’t feel like I was really doing a whole lot wrong those first few holes," Kirk said. "Just a couple bad breaks and missed a couple of putts, but I was playing pretty well.

"But I wasn’t expecting that."