Bryan Lee, Charlie Nikitas share Round 1 lead at CRMC Championship presented by Northern Pacific Center

Bryan Lee (Fairfax, Virginia) and Charlie Nikitas (Glenview, Illinois) carded rounds of 6-under 64 Thursday at Cragun’s Legacy Courses, and they share a one-stroke lead after the first round of the CRMC Championship presented by Northern Pacific Center in Brainerd, Minnesota.

Lee’s summer started by qualifying for the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, and he’s coming off back-to-back made cuts at the Osprey Valley Open (T56) and last week’s Manitoba Open (T31). In four seasons at the University of Virginia, Lee helped lead the Cavaliers to two ACC Championship titles and a national runner-up finish in 2025. He finished No. 17 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2026 to earn PGA TOUR Americas membership.

Joining Lee atop the leaderboard is Nikitas, who enters the week No. 31 on the points list. The third-year member has three top-10 finishes this season, and his 64 matches his best first-round score in 30 starts on PGA TOUR Americas.

Among the seven players tied for third at 5 under is Justin Biwer (San Diego, California), who made eight straight birdies (Nos. 5-12) – the longest such streak on PGA TOUR Americas this season – but also added a triple bogey on No. 13 and a bogey on the par-5 17th.

Also T3 at 5 under is University of Minnesota grad Ben Warian (Stillwater, Minnesota) and sponsor exemption Andrew Israelson (Staples, Minnesota), the 2025 Minnesota Section PGA Assistant Professional Player of the Year.