KAPALUA, Maui » With the Kona winds finally taking the day off, the Plantation Course was its traditionally easy self yesterday as Lucas Glover led a birdie barrage in the opening round of the SBS Championship.

Only two golfers in the elite 28-man field didn't break par, with nine of them within two shots of the lead entering today's second round of the opening event on the PGA Tour. After double-bogeying the opening hole, Glover went 9 under from Nos. 5 through 13 to shoot a 7-under 66.

The defending U.S. Open champion is one shot clear of Martin Laird, Nathan Green, Matt Kuchar, Nick Watney and Dustin Johnson, who all shot 6-under 67s in near ideal conditions. John Rollins, British Open winner Stewart Cink, Masters champion Angel Cabrera and Sean O'Hair were another shot off the pace at 5-under 68.

“;(The conditions were) very, very good,”; Glover said. “;The greens were perfect. The fairways were good. It's softer than I remember, the fairways. I don't know if that's because of the rain overnight. But condition-wise with lies and speed of the greens and the tees, everything is just perfect.”;

A light rain gave way to partly cloudy skies, with the trades making brief appearances throughout the day. For the golfers who played here before, this is the golf course they know and love. But for the seven newcomers—including Laird and Green—who played in the Kona winds the first three days of the week, it was a different experience.

“;It was like a new golf course for me,”; Laird said. “;Some of the holes where I was hitting driver, 5-iron in the practice round (were) driver, lob wedge today. On No. 2, I hit 6-iron. And I have been hitting a 2-iron as hard as I could to get it there on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

“;Luckily the fairways are wide enough, so it's not like it's a real tight course. The fairways are wide enough and even with the wind change, you can feel confident where you are hitting it.”;

Green also noticed the difference in the golf course with the trades returning to the scene. Like Laird, he made the necessary adjustments to play his way up the leaderboard. But after riding in carts in the practice rounds, the walk on this hilly course was more than he anticipated.

“;I've never played here before this week,”; Green said. “;It seems like one of those courses where the greens are tough to get used to. It's tough to get your bearings at such elevation changes I think. I think the guys who have been here have a definite advantage.”;

Count defending champion Geoff Ogilvy among them. The Aussie managed his fifth consecutive round under par here with a 4-under 69. Paired with world No. 3 Steve Stricker (73), Ogilvy kept Glover within his sights as he tries to become the second man from Down Under to win this event back-to-back. Stuart Appleby turned that trick when he won it three straight times starting in 2004.

Watney and Johnson also bear watching after their opening rounds. Paired together, both golfers fed off each other to shoot a pair of stellar 67s.

“;It was a great day,”; said Watney, who graduated from Fresno State. Watney, Kuchar and UNLV's Ryan Moore were the only golfers to manage bogey-free rounds. “;It was a pretty clean round. I didn't have any 30-footers for par or anything. It was just an easy day out here, very simple. Hopefully, I can keep it going tomorrow.”;

Johnson echoed that sentiment.

“;It was a good, solid round,”; Johnson said. “;I made a couple of mistakes, but it's the first round of the year. I'm pretty happy with how it went. I made some good putts and am pretty excited for the rest of the week.”;