Muehr takes early advantage

Michael Muehr posted a five-under 67 on Thursday and grabbed a one-shot lead after the first round of the Buy.com Tour Championship. Lee Porter and Vance Veazey trail by one at the Highland Oaks Golf Club.

This event features the top-55 money winners this season. The top-15 money winners after this event gain automatic entry to the PGA Tour in 2001. Players who finish 16-55 are exempt for the 2001 Buy.com season while those who are 16-25 on the money list earn berths into the final round of the PGA Qualifying School.

Muehr carded back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes and added another at the par-three seventh. He gave a stroke back at eight but rebounded with a birdie at the next hole.

The 28-year-old began his back nine with a bogey at number-10. He responded with birdies at 14 and 16. With Porter in the clubhouse at four-under, Muehr birdied the par-five closing hole to grab the outright lead.

Muehr tied for second two weeks ago at the Inland Empire Open. He has yet to visit the winner's circle in his Buy.com career.

"I felt pretty good coming in," said Muehr, who currently sits 36th on the money list. "I have really nothing to lose. I'm in a position where I really have to win to make a move or top-five to maybe get into the top-25, so there is no pressure."

Porter birdied two of the first three holes before a bogey at number-six. He birdied three more holes coming in to finish with a four-under 68.

Porter needed to sink a three-footer for par at the Inland Empire Open two weeks ago to tie for second. That runner-up finish jumped him from 64th to 53rd on the money list, thus qualifying him for the event.

"I definitely have some momentum coming into this event," stated Porter, who also tied for second at the South Carolina Classic earlier this year. "The biggest difference in the last couple of weeks is I haven't been making the mistakes that I was making earlier in the year."

Veazey carded two front-nine birdies and then lost a stroke at 10. He birdied number-11 and then picked up a birdie at the 15th. He closed with a birdie on the final hole to join Porter in a tie for second.

After making 13 cuts in his first 17 starts, Veazey only made two of his last 10. Veazey thinks that part of that problem might be due to a broken driver three months ago.

"I had a driver I've used for a year and a half," said Veazey, currently 43rd on the money list. "It was a club I had so much confidence in, I just loved it. It's like losing your best friend."

Keith Clearwater, John Kernohan, Donnie Hammond and Lee Rinker are two shots back at minus-three.

Steve Haskins, Richard Johnson, Shane Bertsch and Kent Jones round out the only players under-par with one-under 71s.

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