Charley Hoffman and Mark Hubbard share the lead after the first round of the Barracuda Championship after scoring 13 points at Tahoe Mountain Club.
The Barracuda Championship is played with a Modified Stableford format, with eight points awarded for an albatross, five for an eagle and two for a birdie. Pars are worth no points, with one point deducted for a bogey and three for a double bogey or worse, with players permitted to pick up their ball if they were to record a double.
Hubbard, who finished third at last week’s Barbasol Championship, was on 14 points after carding seven birdies through his first 14 holes, dropping back to 13 points after a bogey on the 16th.
Hoffman recorded his seventh birdie of the day on the ninth hole, his 18th, to join him at the top of the leaderboard.
"Last week, I really hit it pretty poorly, but I just managed my game well," said Hubbard. "So I got here this week, I was tired, I was planning on not really doing anything Tuesday, but I just couldn't stay at home so I came and I had a good range session and I figured some stuff out, so actually I felt like I hit it pretty good today and made some progress from last week actually."
Hoffman, a four-time PGA TOUR winner, added: "If I keep hitting fairways, making a few putts and give myself a chance to win, obviously I want to get that feeling of being in contention again.
"Last year had a great year, and this year I've had not such a great year, and I want to get those juices going again."
The Americans are one point ahead of three golfers who share third place, DP World Tour members Aaron Cockerill and Sean Crocker and PGA TOUR member Brice Garnett.
Canadian Cockerill started his round on minus three points after picking his ball up on the par four tenth, but quickly recovered with birdies on the next two holes.
Two further gains followed before the turn as he sat on four points. He eagled the par five second, earning five points, and finished on 12 points after recording two more birdies and a bogey.
"It was funny to scoop it on the first hole of the day, but after that I bounced back with two birdies in a row and played solid," said Cockerill. "I holed a lot of good putts and made a bomb on the second hole for eagle, which is obviously huge in this format.
"If you make 18 pars versus nine bogeys and nine birdies, you're way better off to make all the birdies. I was trying to play a little more aggressively today, I think. Especially those 15-footers are kind of crucial. You don't want to leave them short. I think it frees you up a little bit and you've got to play a little more aggressive."
Crocker, playing on home soil this week in the United States, recovered from a bogey on the first hole with four birdies to make the turn on seven points. He then birdied three of his last seven holes, carding a bogey on the 17th hole for a 12-point total.
“It was a good day," said Crocker. "Didn't do anything crazy nor too special, just played decent golf. I was just trying to make some birdies and not make too many bogeys.
“(On the bogey on the first) I think that was just kind of first-hole PGA TOUR jitters for me because this is honestly my first ever PGA TOUR event ever. So a little bit nervous on that tee shot on the second but we kind of shook it away pretty quickly.”
