Kite atop leaderboard after 9-under 63

CONCORD - Fortunately, Bank of America Championship officials loaded up the standard-bearer for Group 13 with plenty of red numbers in yesterday's opening round at Nashawtuc Country Club.

That's because Tom Kite, Mark McNulty, and Jay Haas sure put them to good use. It was such a birdie barrage that at 4-under-par 68, Haas, the defending champion, felt like he was standing still. Even at 2 under through four holes, Haas was looking up at Kite, his birdie-birdie-birdie start an eye-opener, for sure.

"At that point, I was still somewhat in his jet wash," said Haas with a laugh, though he accepted blame for making the only bogey in the group, at the par-4 12th. "Pretty much, I looked on today."

What Haas had a front-row seat for was a piece of tournament history. Kite not only matched the championship scoring record with his 9-under 63 to jump ahead of McNulty and David Eger, both of whom shot 65, he established the best first-round score in the 27-year history of this tournament. On a day when the field average was under par (71.244), Kite and McNulty combined for 16 birdies, including at least one on every outward hole save for the par-4 seventh.

"Good group to play with," said Kite, who has finished top 10 three times in six starts at Nashawtuc, his best a share of second in 2004. "I felt very comfortable with them and we all fed off one another."

McNulty, the 2005 winner, felt similarly.

"It was a fun day for me," said the man from Zimbabwe.

"There were a lot of birdies out there."

Twenty-one, if you include the five Haas made, and the group was a combined 20 under, as they were unable to make at least one birdie on only five holes (seventh, 12th, 13th, 15th, and 17th).

While shooting 63 and going bogey-free are certainly positives, in 10 previous times as the first-round leader of a Champions Tour event, Kite has gone on to win just once, way back in 2002.

Hardly a comforting thought as Kite starts today with a two-stroke edge on McNulty and Eger, with John Morse at 5-under 67, and Haas one of a dozen who shot 68.

Not at all pleased

Certainly, he wasn't moved to superlatives. "I hit it relatively poor. I putted fair. Pretty nondescript," said local favorite Kirk Hanefeld after pushing off in the first group of the day and shooting 1-under 71. Though he was one of 43 players to break par, the director of golf at The International in Bolton had hoped for more, but he could not get anything going. He offset birdies at the third and ninth holes with bogeys at Nos. 7 and 11, and while he made one more birdie coming home, at the par-4 14th, he said, "I'm not very happy with a 71, needless to say." . . . It hardly started in positive fashion - a bogey at the first hole - but Dana Quigley went bogey-free from there to shoot 3-under 69, though it was only good enough for a share of 17th. Still, it was his first sub-70 round since April 27 at the final round of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf . . . Allen Doyle made just one birdie in a round of 76 that was not a testament to his short game. "One of those days when I turned a 72 into a 76," said Doyle. "I put myself in a couple of bad spots. What are you going to do?" Having played his first 26 rounds at Nashawtuc in no worse than 73, and 21 times under par, Doyle has shot 76 twice in a row.

Age-defying

It's easy to have lost count of the number of times Gary Player has left a lasting impression, but he did it again in Round 1 by nearly shooting his age. He was 1 under through 12 holes before bogeys at the par-3 13th and par-4 15th left him at 1-over 73, one over his age. The dynamic nine-time major winner is back in the Boston area one month after his appearance at the Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund's annual banquet packed the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center . . . Walter Hall three-putted the par-4 16th, halting a stretch of 218 holes without one of golf's most excruciating miscues. He hadn't three-putted since the 14th hole of the first round of the FedEx Kinko's Classic May 2 . . . Four times in his previous four visits to Nashawtuc, Tom Purtzer has owned at least a share of the lead following a round, but after an even-par 72, he is sitting nine behind Kite. Purtzer, who had shot 66, 65, and 65 in three previous first rounds here, was 2 under through seven, but didn't make another birdie and dropped strokes at the eighth and 16th. He'll need a repeat of 2005 if he's to entertain any hopes of winning this year's tournament. That year, Purtzer opened with a 71, but shot 64-69 to get into a three-way playoff that was won by McNulty.

Major star power

There was a nice twist in the groupings, especially if you like to see former major champions at the same time. And there they were in the 10th group of the day, the 1987 (Scott Simpson), 1988-89 (Curtis Strange), and 1990 (Hale Irwin) US Open champions. At 63 and without a finish better than T-18 in 11 starts, Irwin, the Champion Tour's most successful player, has talked openly of stepping away from competition, but he posted his best score since Feb. 16, a 68, and threw a buzz into the festivities with the only eagle of the day at the par-5 10th. Irwin capped his round with a 7-foot par save at the 18th, while Simpson made a 4-foot birdie roll there to also shoot 68. Strange, meanwhile, signed for a 70 . . . In all, there were three eagles. Besides Irwin at the 10th, Tom Jenkins made one at the par-5 fifth in his round of 69, and John Harris shot 70, helped greatly by holing out from 180 yards at the par-4 11th . . . Mark Morrison (79) was the only player in the field of 78 to not make a birdie, while seven players went bogey-free - Kite, McNulty, Eger, Simpson, Donnie Hammond (68), Massy Kuramoto (68), and James Mason (69). Mason, however, was the only one to do it while wearing plus fours.