Maverick McNealy and Viraat Badhwar combined for a 6-under 64 on Saturday to grab a 1-shot lead after the inaugural U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship.
McNealy and Badhwar tallied seven birdies and one bogey in their opening round on the Ocean Course at The Olympic Club.
The leaders tripped a bogey at the first. They poured in three straight birdies from the third and move to 3-under with a birdie at the seventh.
Around the turn, they birdied the 13th in the middle of eight pars in a 9-hole stretch from the eighth. Back-to-back birdies at 17 and 18 gave McNealy and Badhwar the first-round lead.
Tim Tucker and Kyle Crawford carded a 5-under 65 on the Ocean Course and are tied for second with Jordan Nasser and Taylor Wood. Nasser and Wood posted their 65 on the Lake Course at The Olympic Club.
Kyle Suppa and Kyosuke Hara posted a 66 on the Lake Course as did Matthew Simone and Cory Bacon. They were joined in fourth place by four teams - Austin Connelly and Sam Burns, Jacob Huizinga and William Wrigley, Jeff Williams and Tee McCabe, and Tom Brandes and Mike Haack - who all played the Ocean Course.
Seven more teams are tied for 10th at minus-3.
Sunday will be the second round of stroke play. The five rounds of match play will be contested Monday through Wednesday, with two rounds on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
[SportsNetwork.com]
