After he shot a 64 sight unseen during an exhibition round in 1985, current PGA Senior Tour professional Chi Chi Rodriguez promptly called Hunting Hills the easiest course he'd ever seen.

Ssssshhh! Better not mention that to the field of 105 players in Friday's first round of the 30th Roanoke Valley Golf Hall of Fame men's championship.

On a beautiful, sunny day in which the ridiculously short (6,058 yards) but tight and tricky course left what's supposedly the best golfers in the Roanoke Valley totally red-faced, Roanoke Country Club's Miller Baber was the only player to finish in the red. In a strong start to his quest to capture his first HOF title, Baber shot a 1-under-par 69 and leads the field by three shots heading into today's second round at Countryside.

"Thank God for Miller," Waterfront ace Chris Gibson quipped.

Baber, 38, credited course management for his successful trip around Hunting Hills' short but troublesome layout, which puts a premium on the game of thinking man's golf.

"You've got to keep the ball in play here," said Baber, who was 3 under until he bogeyed Nos.15 and 16. "The smarter guys have an advantage here. But being older doesn't necessarily make you smarter. I'm happy with this round, believe me."

He was one of the few who could say that on a day in which only 15 players broke 75.

Defending champion Scott Wise of Blue Hills grinded his way to a 72, where he's tied with steady senior Jeff Lynch of RCC and former junior standout Scott Griffin of Botetourt.

Prohibitive favorite Matt Mankin of Botetourt struggled to a 74.

"It's a 6,000-yard course and we're the Roanoke Valley's best and we shoot a lot over par," Mankin said. "Roanoke has got good players. One played well today and the rest didn't."

Mankin laughed when he was informed that Baber had confronted a newspaper reporter concerning a story that had labeled the former as the best player never to have won the title.

"If Miller wants that tag, he can have it," Mankin said. "He was obviously the best player today. I'm sure he thinks he needs to win this to prove himself. I feel like I need to win it to prove myself, too."

With today's second round in jeopardy because of a forecast of heavy rain, Baber's pursuers may have only 18 holes on Sunday at Hidden Valley to track him down.

"Yes, yes, I need the extra round," Mankin said.

"Miller is a quality player and he's not going to back up," Wise noted. "I want to play [today]. I would think Miller would want to play, too. You never want to have a little asterisk beside your names saying 36 holes."

Led by Baber, defending champion RCC leads Hidden Valley by 10 shots as it pursues its record 11th team title.

SAND BLASTS: RCC's Valeta Pittman guns for a second straight title when the 36-hole women's championship begins today. Pittman will be severely tested by five-time winner Dot Bolling of Hidden Valley and collegian Meg Davies of Hunting Hills. ... It was a bad day for former champions. Jack Allara (2001) limped home in 76, while '94 winner Rodney Naff and '89 titlist Mike Smith each struggled to a 78. ... When informed of Rodriquez's comment on how easy Hunting Hills played, Westlake's Tony Montgomery said: "Yeah, he can't break 80 now."

Reprinted with permission from The Roanoke Times.