Jacobs shoots 64 to lead by two

John Jacobs opened the MasterCard Championship the same way he did last year en route to victory, shooting an 8-under-par 64 today.

Jacobs took a two-stroke lead over Jim Colbert, Larry Nelson and Allen Doyle with the bogey-free round on the 7,053-yard Hualalai Golf Club on the island of Hawaii.

In matching his tournament record for lowest first-round score, Jacobs took advantage of calm conditions to birdie all four par-5s in matching 32s on the outgoing and incoming nines.

"I imagine I played them pretty good last year," Jacobs said of the par-5s. "I know the wind was different today. Last year on 14, I couldn't reach it. Today, I used a 7-iron."

Jacobs is bothered by a hip injury, which he attributed to a new workout regime.

"My hip's been killing me," he said. "I never exercised in my life before, but I know I have to do it. But, instead of starting slow, I went too hard, too fast. It hurts so bad at night, I take a pill."

But he thinks the injury has helped improve his game.

"What it does is it makes me swing slower," Jacobs said.

Doyle, who won four times last year and finished third on the money list with $1,911,640, had an eagle on the 538-yard seventh hole, five birdies and a bogey.

"I missed one fairway," he said. "I didn't make a lot of putts, but enough to shoot 6-under.

"My goals are the same as last year. I don't want to get ahead of myself. I never have so there's no reason to change. You just go out and make good swings and try to roll the ball well. I don't want to put any pressure on myself."

Twenty-one of the 38 players in the field limited to tournament winners the last two years and winners of majors the last five years broke par.

Lee Trevino, Raymond Floyd, Hugh Baiocchi and George Archer opened with 67s, and Hale Irwin, Graham Marsh, Tom Weiskopf and Dana Quigley shot 68s.

Jim Ahern and John Mahaffey were another stroke back at 69, Christy O'Connor, Isao Aoki, Bruce Fleisher, David Graham and Vicente Fernandez opened with 70s, and Bob Dickson and Larry Ziegler had 71s. Jack Nicklaus, who was serenaded and presented with a cake on his 60th birthday, shot a 73.

Tom Watson, who was to make his full-season debut on the 50-and-over circuit, withdrew Friday following the death of his father, Raymond. The elder Watson was a former club champion who introduced his son to golf at age 8.

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