It wasn't quite the center stage that members of the University of Hawai'i-Hilo golf team had in mind.

They were on the second fairway at the Waikoloa King's Course on the Big Island, less than 30 miles from the epicenter of a 6.7-magnitude earthquake that shook up all of us Sunday morning.

"Hey, coach. This is rock and roll," they yelled at Earl Tamiya.

A second quake, registered at 6.0, followed just minutes later.

"I've been through a lot of earthquakes. But nothing like this. The ground was just shaking," Tamiya said. "The kids just sat down on the fairway and waited it out. We were in the open, not in any building. So it was not as frightening."

Then the cell phones started ringing, especially from concerned parents.

Tamiya got long-distance calls from fellow college golf coaches, including Arizona State's Randy Lyons, who heard about the earthquakes on CNN.

Logan Goulding, a freshman from Tracy, Calif., also got a call from his parents, John and Susan, asking if he was OK. He assured them that everything was fine, that he was out on a golf course.

"At first, I didn't realize what was going on," Goulding said.

Daniel Kitayama, another of Tamiya's freshman recruits from California, telephoned his parents back home in Chico, telling them about the quakes and not to worry.

"I heard this rumble and wondered, 'what's going on?' It didn't hit me at first until I realized it was an earthquake," said Kitayama, who thought maybe some construction was going on nearby.

Making it ironic is that it's the first such experience for the two players who come from a state known for its earthquakes.

"It's the first one I felt," Kitayama said.

Goulding was only 1 when a big one hit San Francisco in 1989, disrupting the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A's.

The Vulcans did complete their practice round Sunday, but Tamiya's worries weren't over. The team had to eat something before driving 75 miles back to Hilo.

Power was out and the golf course restaurant was shut down. So he went to a Subway's and waited in line for 30 minutes.

"I was next to the last in line when the guy told me everything was sold out," said Tamiya, also worried about the possibility of an unplanned overnight stay in Waikoloa.

It was supposed to be golf and go. It was almost no go. Driving, at best, was hazardous with the highway through Waimea posing unknown risks.

The team finally drove back to Hilo via the Saddle Road, hungry and tired, but with stories to tell.

Others had tales, too.

Dennis Rose, Mauna Lani Resort's director of golf, was at home in Waimea with his wife, Laura, and his visiting sister, Pat Jamesson, when the quakes occurred.

"The first thing I thought of was — 1971, Los Angeles — when the freeways fell and everything. It was about the same time in the morning," Rose said.

Rose's house sustained some damage Sunday, but when he went to the golf clubhouse, he found it a beehive of activity because hotel guests had been evacuated there.

"A lot of them played because there was nothing else to do," Rose said. Still, play was a little less than normal for a Sunday, he said.

It was business at usual at Waikoloa as the King's and Beach courses were open for play, according to David Pritchett, the resort's director of golf.

He was at his home in Waikoloa Village, drinking a cup of coffee when the the earthquakes began.

"I didn't even spill it on me," Pritchett said. He never felt experienced anything like when he lived in Texas. Once he put his house back in order, he went to the his office.

"One of my workers in the pro shop (Rita McLain) said she was in the 1989 San Francisco earthquake and thought this one was bigger."

Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, closest to the two quake epicenters, sustained the most damage among the resorts along the Kohala Coast. The hotel guests there and at its sister hotel, Hapuna Prince, were temporarily evacuated because of power outages.

The Mauna Kea and Hapuna courses were opened for play, mostly to guests who were already there because the roads made it difficult to get in and out of the resort.

"They had nothing to do," said Jay Taise, Mauna Kea assistant pro.

That was also the refrain at the Ala Wai Golf Course in blacked-out Honolulu, according to starter Jeff Yamamoto, who worked that morning.

"Play was slow in the morning. We had heavy rain and earthquakes, but people started showing up in the afternoon. We were packed. I had to start a waiting list," he said.

"We had no phone so they just came down and took a chance. They all told me there was nothing to do. They couldn't watch football or anything with no electricity."

With no power, everything was done manually in registering the golfers, Yamamoto said. "Ink pen and paper. Cash only."