England's Luke Donald seized the early lead with a 63 and Michelle Wie stumbled to a 78 in the first round of the US$5.2 million PGA Sony Open on Thursday.
Donald managed to ignore the sideshow surrounding Wie and focus on his game posting a seven-under-par at the Waialae Country Club.
Donald, whose gallery is much smaller than Wie's and amounted to "three or four" people at the start of the day, enjoyed the serene silence to compile nine birdies.
"I've always enjoyed playing this course," the 29-year-old Englishman said. "I played very nicely today and more importantly, holed the putts for birdie."
South Korea's K.J. Choi was next after a 64 that included an eagle from nearly 50 feet at the par-five 18th.
Jim Furyk and Will MacKenzie were two shots off the pace on a day when the 17-year-old Wie shot eight over par that left her second to last.
Donald, a member of last year's victorious European Ryder Cup team, finished a career high ninth on the PGA Tour money list last year, and he made a decent start to the year with a seventh place at the Mercedes-Benz Championship on Maui last week.
"I feel I'm getting better every year," he said. "It has not quite yet resulted in a lot of wins, winning majors and that kind of stuff, but I feel I'm getting a lot closer than I was a year or two ago."
Donald is regarded as a premier iron player and he was certainly on target with his approach shots, making all but one of his birdies from inside 15 feet on a course that demands shotmaking more than sheer power.
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