East Meadow, N.Y. ? Loren Roberts and Eduardo Romero have been seeing their names next to each other a lot lately on leaderboards, and it’s not just for alphabetical reasons.

Roberts, who leads the Champions Tour in scoring average, had his low round of the year, a 7-under 64 Friday, to take a one-stroke lead over Romero after the first round of the Commerce Bank Championship.

Roberts’ only tour win this year saw Romero finish second, and the two met in a playoff in last year’s Senior British Open with Roberts winning that, too.

“Eduardo has great hands and great feel,” Roberts said. “He just goes out and plays and doesn’t worry about mechanics, and that’s the way to play.”

Romero called Roberts “one of the best players in the world.”

That they got the opportunity to resume their recent rivalry Friday was a surprise to many.

A powerful thunderstorm passed right over the Red Course at Eisenhower Park on Thursday night, damaging a few trees and knocking down a scoreboard and a hospitality tent just behind the 18th green. Crews worked through the night, and Friday’s round got off on time.

“They did a remarkable job of getting the course in shape. It didn’t even look like it rained,” Roberts said of the county-owned facility. “Those guys must have worked their tails off last night.”

He didn’t get off to a quick start Friday, making the turn at 2 under, but he had five birdies in his last eight holes on the 7,021-yard course to better his yearly average by almost five strokes. Roberts, who is tied for the tour lead in putting average at 1.706, needed only 29 putts and reached all but one green in regulation.

“The only one I missed was No. 8 when I spun a wedge back off the green, so I’m counting that I made them all,” said Roberts, who hit 13 of 14 fairways.