Zambri & Bateman share lead after 64's

Chris Zambri and Ahmad Bateman each fired eight-under-par 64s on Thursday and share a one-shot lead after the opening round of the Buy.com Omaha Classic at The Champions Club.

David Berganio and Tim Conley are tied at seven-under while John Riegger, Steve Ford, Brenden Pappas and last week's Dakota Dunes runner-up Mike Schuchart are two shots off the pace at minus-six.

Zambri, who is currently 55th on the money list with two top-10s in 16 starts this season, started on the back nine with four birdies over his first five holes and added another on the 18th to make the turn in 31.

After dropping a shot with a bogey on the second, Zambri birdied four of the final seven holes to help him post his best round of the year.

"I putted great," said Zambri, who needed just 22 strokes of the flatstick to make his way around the greens in round one. "It could have been better but with all the putts I made I can't complain."

Bateman, the winner of the 1997 Carolina Classic, made it to two-under with three birdies and a bogey on his first nine before reeling off five straight birdies to climb to seven-under. He capped things off with a birdie on his last hole -- the par-four ninth -- to join Zambri at the top.

"I hit it pretty well all day. I was really kind of surprised," said Bateman, who was in an auto accident three weeks ago in California. In fact, Bateman had to wake up a bit earlier than he would have liked to have an MRI.

"The doctor has my results somewhere around here," Bateman explained. "(If he said) Monday, you can't play for three days, that would be fine with me."

Schuchart, a three-time winner on the Buy.com Tour who coming into last week missed 12 straight cuts dating back to 1997, admitted he is at a loss to explain his sudden resurgence.

"It's crazy. I couldn't tell you (why my game has arrived)," said Schuchart, who was born in Omaha. "I just started feeling better about it and actually got kind of excited about last week when I got there and there were people around and I got in the hunt and some of the juices started flowing again."

Thursday's first-round play was delayed for an hour and forty- five minutes due to inclement weather.

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