KAHUKU — A week ago, "trouble" on the Champions Tour was defined as a divot. "Trouble" at Turtle Bay's Palmer Course has some teeth.

While others sailed and flailed in the first round of the Turtle Bay Championship Friday, Fred Funk avoided any hint of trouble and punched in with a 7-under-par 65. He leads David Eger, John Harris, Kiyoshi Murota, Tom Kite and qualifier Tom McKnight by two shots going into Saturday's second round.

Murota, who has won the Hawai'i Pearl Open twice, birdied four of the first six holes and added another on the closing hole. He has won six times in Japan and was 42nd on the JGTO money list last year, after finishing 17th at Turtle Bay.

Hawai'i's David Ishii eagled the final hole to move into a share of seventh, another shot back. Ishii, a member of the Hawai'i Golf Hall of Fame, finished 29th here last year in his senior debut. He was the 1990 Hawaiian Open champion and has won 14 times in Japan. He and Murota were born on the same day — July 26, 1955.

Defending champion Loren Roberts is another shot back. Roberts eagled the final hole last year to beat Scott Simpson by two. He three-putted it for par Friday. Simpson, a former Kailua resident, shot 70 and Honolulu's Dave Eichelberger opened with 74.

The seniors' first full-field event of 2007 ends Sunday, but the season started a week ago with an elite field of 41 torching Hualalai Golf Club. The average score was 68 and Hale Irwin, 61, nearly shot his age while streaking to a four-shot victory over Kite and Jim Thorpe.

Irwin, who warned of upcoming hazards on the North Shore before he left the Big Island, shot a third-grader's age on one hole yesterday. He poured two balls in the water on the seventh and rallied from the resulting quadruple-bogey 8 the rest of the round. Irwin, who won the first four Turtle Bay Championships, opened with 74.

He was not wet alone. Dana Quigley splashed to a quadruple-bogey 9 on the final hole and shot 76. There were 35 ominous "others" (worse than bogey) on scorecards as the Palmer played to an average of 72.615.

And then there was Funk, who has won more than $19 million on the PGA Tour, but might be best known for changing into a skirt after Annika Sorenstam out-drove him in a skins game.

He might not be the longest player on this tour, or any other, but Funk could be the most accurate. He was first in fairways hit and second in greens in regulation Friday, which is common. What took him to the top on a breezy day was putting. He had just 26 and sank three from outside 20 feet.

That presented a problem to the meticulous Funk, who said his putting masked a "dicey" swing that is causing him to struggle to get the ball close. He believes he is thinking too much on the course while he re-tools his swing.

"It's not horrible," Funk said. "It's a little better than it was, but it's not on auto-pilot."

Funk turned 50 last June and won one of the three senior tournaments he played in 2006. He does not plan to play many more this year, scheduling some 27 stops on the regular tour, where he is exempt another five years.

"If I have a really good year on the regular tour I'm going to go another year out there," he said. "I'm going to stay out there until my game is telling me it's time to move. I've worked my whole life to be on the regular tour and I don't want to give that up until I have to.

"It would be good for the Champions Tour if I could go out there and play well, and then come out here and play well. Anybody from the Champions Tour that goes back and plays the big tour with the young guys and the long, long courses and has success out there just shows how good the guys are out here. It validates it even more."

Like Funk, Kite and McKnight also avoided bogeys — and worse — while Harris had one and Eger three, including the first two holes. Eger missed from 15 inches on the first, had to chip out of trouble twice and take an unplayable lie another time. He also chipped in, nearly had a hole-in-one and collected eight birdies.

"I hit some poor shots ... ," Eger volunteered. "I could have shot 75."

He and Harris both turned pro twice, while McKnight put together a brilliant amateur career while working in the petroleum business for 20 years. He came to the senior tour after finishing second at the 2004 Q-School.

Eger played 58 regular tour events from 1978 to '81, winning $12,804. He regained amateur status in 1986 and started playing for pay again at 50, five years ago. The former PGA Tour employee has won twice.

Harris is also 54. Before he won on this tour last year, his biggest title came at the 1993 U.S. Amateur. That's not counting the NCAA hockey championship he got at the University of Minnesota, where he was coached by Herb Brooks.

Harris' best regular tour finish was a tie for 26th at the 1976 Hawaiian Open, soon after he turned pro. He got his amateur status back in 1983, four years after founding Harris-Homeyer Insurance. He began to collect golf checks again at age 50.

NOTE

Moanalua High sophomore Tadd Fujikawa will help Kapalua's Mark Rolfing with commentary on Saturday's broadcast.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.