Taylor takes narrow first day advantage

Vaughn Taylor stepped onto the ninth green, his last of the day, and stared at the 50-foot span of green that stood between his ball, the hole and a par.

Minutes later, as he headed to the scoring tent with an 8-under-par 64, Taylor was all smiles after salvaging the par that kept him in sole possession of the lead after Thursday's first round of the $425,000 BUY.COM Ozarks Open at Highland Springs Country Club.

Todd Demsey, Greg Parker and Stiles Mitchell are tied for second at one stroke back, while Rob Moss, who played in the same group as Demsey and Parker, sits in a nine-way tie for fifth at 6 under.

"It wasn't the way I drew it up but I'm glad I made it and got out of there with par," said Taylor, who is playing in just his fourth event this season and fifth on the BUY.COM TOUR. "I hit a bad tee shot (in the water) and a pretty good second shot from where I was. That last putt -- I was just trying to get it close and actually it was running pretty fast. I got lucky and it hit the hole and fell in."

Asked if the par was better than his seven birdies, Taylor said, "possibly even better. I would have had a tough bogey putt. That's really getting out of there -- maybe saving two shots."

Taylor picked up two strokes earlier in the day on No. 18 when he reached the green in two and knocked in a 10-foot putt for eagle and a front-nine 30.

"My putter was on. I hit some really good putts. I seemed to have some good looks at it. I hit it close a few times and the 20-footers I had were pretty straight. I was just in the right spots on the greens," Taylor said.

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