With 62, Dickerson leads by three in Henrico County

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GLEN ALLEN, Va. -- Former U.S. Amateur Champion Bubba Dickerson posted a career-best, 10-under-par 62 Thursday to take a three-stroke lead after the first round of the Nationwide Tour's Henrico County Open in suburban Richmond, Va.

Bubba Dickerson was looking back at the pack after a career-best 62 Thursday. (Gardner/WireImage)

Inside the Numbers

Dickerson thru 18 Holes

Category Total Rank Eagles 0 N/A Birdies 11 1 Pars 6 T153 Bogeys 1 T115 Double Bogeys 0 N/A Other 0 N/A Driving Accuracy 71.4% T47 Driving Distance 278.0 yds. 53 Greens in Regulation 77.8% T14 Putts per Round 23.0 2 Putts per GIR 1.357 2 Sand Saves 0 N/A

"Birdies make you smile," said Dickerson, whose 62 included a birdie at his closing hole and bettered his previous career low by three.

Roger Tambellini and Australian Andrew Buckle carded 7-under 65s to share second place, while Neal Lancaster, Canada's Brad Fritsch, Dicky Pride, Chris Riley and Norway's Henrik Bjornstad are tied for fourth, four back of the leader.

Scoring took a beating during the opening round of the $500,000 event, thanks to a course softened by early-week rains, coupled with lift, clean and place conditions. Thursday's average of 71.878 was the lowest opening day in three years. A total of 39 players broke 70 and 95 of the 156 were at par or better.

Dickerson got off to a blazing start with six consecutive birdies to begin his day at The Dominion Club.

"I knew the start was there," he said. "It's the first round of a tournament so you never expect to start that way, but I hit a lot of good shots early and made a couple of putts."

When his sixth birdie rolled in, the Florida Gator started thinking ahead.

"I thought if I birdied 7, 8 and 9 that'd be pretty impressive to shoot 9 under on 9 holes," he said. "Those last three holes are tough, though."

Dickerson settled for a quartet of pars before he regained the momentum, rolling in birdie putts of 6, 20 and 12 feet to get to 9 under after 13 holes. He admitted that his thoughts shifted and he started him thinking about that magical round of sub-60.

"If 59 is there, you keep moving forward because you're moving for something better," he said. "If you get to 6 under early, then you think 'that's 66.' You're always trying to set better goals for yourself. If you set that higher goal, it keeps you moving forward rather than playing safe or slowing down or backing off."

Dickerson was full speed ahead and appeared on the verge of joining some rather elite company, including Notah Begay III, who became the first Nationwide Tour player to shoot 59 when he turned the trick 10 years ago on the same golf course.

A pulled tee shot into the rough on the par-4 14th left him scrambling and resulted in his lone bogey of the day.

"That ended it right there," said Dickerson, who hit 10 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens.

Still, he rallied by drilling a driver onto the green at the reachable, par-4 15th hole and two-putting for birdie to get back to minus 9. He then closed it out by floating a wedge to within four feet at the par-5 18th and canning the putt.

The good news is that Dickerson's three-stroke lead is the largest in the 15-year history of the tournament. The bad news is that none of the previous first-round leaders has ever gone on to win the event.

Tambellini was in the second group off the first tee in the morning and held the clubhouse lead for most of the day, thanks to his bogey-free effort. The 33-year old finished up strong with four birdies on his final five holes.

"It seems like a blur," he said of the closing holes. "I'm hitting it great. Putting great. I felt the same sort of thing carried over from last week."

Tambellini shot 68-67 on the weekend at the Athens Regional Foundation Classic and vaulted all the way to a tie for fourth place.

"You have a good round on Sunday and it kind of carries over the next week," he said.

Lancaster, who has missed the cut in all three of his Nationwide Tour starts this year, posted his best score of the year, closing with a chip-in birdie on his next to last hole.

"That's a good round for me any time," said the 45-year old veteran, who is commuting more than two hours from his home in Smithfield, NC. "I've been hitting pull-hooks for about three years now. I still had 'em again today, they were just 25 feet from the hole, not 25 yards."

Lancaster admitted that he got away with a lot of mistakes during his round.

"Sixty-six and it couldn't have been any better," said Lancaster, who has broken par only once in his previous six rounds this year. "I saved every stroke I could. My game's been so bad, I was just trying to take what it gives me. I've been hitting it bad. I had no expectations (this week)."

First-Round News & Notes: Lift, clean and place rules were in effect for the opening round. This was only the second time this year that such rules were needed, with the first being at Round 2 of the HSBC New Zealand PGA Championship. ... Bubba Dickerson established a tournament record by running off six consecutive birdies to open his round. Dickerson fell one short of the Tour mark of seven in a row to begin a round, which was set by Rocky Walcher in the third round of the 2000 Wichita Open. ... Players who were bogey-free in round one: Roger Tambellini (65), Brad Fritsch (66), Peter Tomasulo (67), Jon Turcott (68), Kyle Gallo (68), Gary Christian (69), Tom Johnson (70), Jonathan Fricke (71).