KAUPULEHU-KONA, Hawaii » With whales watching and waves crashing, the Champions Tour appeared out of the vog Friday, starting its 35th year with the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

With barely any wind, the seniors again tore up a pristine course known for being all but divot-free. Rocco Mediate did the most damage with a 9-under-par 63.

It was the 2013 rookie of the year’s first look at Hualalai. He didn’t think he was going to tee off, waking up two days ago with pain in his left hip area. His first five practice swings Friday morning convinced him to quit.

He went back inside, got worked on by a chiropractor and took "a few more narcotics, which are legal ones."

If it had been a full-field event, not the seniors’ tournament of champions with 41 guys, Mediate would have let the first alternate in and worked a little more on his Monday wedding at Hualalai.

Instead, he birdied four of the first six holes, pitched in for eagle on the seventh and made the turn in 6-under 30. Mediate birdied both the par-5s on the back and finished with a 10-foot birdie putt that gave him a one-stroke lead over 2012 Mitsubishi winner Dan Forsman.

"It was all good, I’m ecstatic," Mediate said. "I know what I’m doing with my golf club, I really do. … I just let it rip and I pretty much did not miss."

Forsman is here for the fifth straight year but hasn’t finished in the top 15 other than his win. Last year he was 32nd.

"It’s a crazy game," Forsman shrugged. "It ebbs and flows on confidence levels and I think I came out of winter not as confident when I came here (last year). I was ebbing. It’s the nature of the game.

"My career has been up and down and up and down, not that stable. I wish it were. I know this — when I feel like I did today I can be a factor."

He one-putted the first six holes, four for birdie. He finished with 24 putts, including a 30-footer for eagle on the 14th. Forsman closed by sinking a couple of 10-footers and "the hole looked as big as a garbage can by then."

He wasn’t alone. Only eight players did not break par, a group that includes reigning player of the year Kenny Perry.

Steve Elkington, Fred Funk, Tom Pernice Jr. and Fred Couples share third after shooting 65. Couples’ round came with a gift from the gods.

He tried to "rip a low iron" to the par-5 seventh and cut it into the lava. The ball bounced some 70 feet high, caromed off the edge of the cart path and left him 8 feet from the hole.

He drained that for his second eagle in four holes and played the par-5s in 6 under. "If it had stayed up in the rocks," Couples said, "I probably would have made a birdie for a bogey, so three instead of six."

Mediate asked Jessica Somers to marry him Dec. 14, 2012. Three months later, he won his first start on the Champions Tour and asked her if she would like to get married at Hualalai.

Her answer was yes to both questions. They will marry Monday, then leave for San Diego, where Mediate has a sponsor’s exemption on the PGA Tour. Their honeymoons — there will be at least two — will be later in the year, but Mediate admitted he would rather stay here to celebrate. His fiancee insisted he accept the exemption.

"I like Hawaii, but I’ve never been here, just Kapalua and Sony," he said. "I told her ‘They say Hualalai is the best in the world. Why don’t we go there and get married?’ I’m more nervous about that than I was playing this morning.

"I can’t do this place justice … can’t explain how cool it is here because it’s way cool."

Forsman played with Jay Don Blake, who is tied for seventh at 66. Their best-ball score was 11 under.

Hale Irwin and Larry Nelson also played together and Irwin, 68, was a bogey away from shooting his age.

"There are 134 years between us," joked Irwin, who has 12 wins in Hawaii, including two here. "It’s hard to talk when you can’t hear."

Defending champ John Cook did not have a bogey here last year. He had two in three holes Friday and shot 69. The bogey at No. 9 was his first at Hualalai in 73 holes. His scoring average here is just over 67 in 19 rounds.