Presnell opens with 63, leads by one in Utah

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Alistair Presnell opened his first round with an eagle and finished with a 63 to lead the Utah Championship.

SANDY, Utah -- Alistair Presnell tied the course record at Willow Creek Country Club with an 8-under-par 63 to take sole possession of the lead at the Utah Championship presented by Utah Sports Commission. Fellow Australians David McKenzie and Andrew Buckle share second at 7 under while Josh Teater and Craig Bowden are tied for fourth at 6 under.

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Presnell started the day by draining a 25-foot putt for eagle from just off the front edge of the 10th hole, a 591 yard par-5. He finished his first nine with a 6-under 30.

"The key for me today was putting," he said. "I have my putting coach here with me this week and have really been focusing on my short game. It paid off today."

Another key putt came on the sixth hole (his 15th of the day), an uphill 10-footer to save par after hitting his tee shot into a fairway bunker. He required only 26 putts in the first round.

The sole blemish on his scorecard was on the par-4 fourth. After his drive found the thick left rough, he was unable to reach the green on his approach and ended with a bogey.

"You have to take the good with the bad," he remarked. "The important thing is to think positive after something like that happens -- the next hole is a new hole, the next shot is a new shot."

Presnell is playing his first full season on the Nationwide Tour. Last year, he traveled to the United States to try his hand at four open qualifiers. He failed to make the field in any of them. That all changed when he won the second event of this season, the Moonah Classic in his native Australia. The victory gave him full status on Tour for this year and all of next year as well. He is currently 18th on the money list and hoping to finish within the "THE 25" leading money-winners that earn PGA TOUR cards at the Nationwide Tour Championship at Daniel Island in Charleston, S.C.

Play resumes Friday morning with players going off the first and tenth tees in threesomes beginning at 7:40 a.m. Another beautiful day of clear skies, mild wind and temperatures into the mid to high 80s is expected for the second round.

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Notebook

• The 18th hole at Willow Creek Country Club is a 198-yard par 3. There is no record of another par-3 finishing hole in Nationwide Tour history. The hole used to play as a par 4, but was converted in 2006 as part of a course renovation. Willow Creek also features six par-3s, the most of any course on Tour.

• Jeff Gove made a hole-in-one on No. 15 with a 9-iron from 152 yards.

• McKenzie holed out a 6-iron from 190 yards for eagle on No. 4, a 469-yard par-4.

• Brendon Todd, last year's winner of the Utah Championship, struggled to a 2-over-par 73 in the first round.

• With the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup down to 70 players at the BMW Championship, there are 16 fully-exempt PGA TOUR players competing here this week -- making it one of the strongest fields all year.

• Scoring averages: