Zambri takes one shot lead

Chris Zambri fired a bogey-free, five-under-par 65 and holds a one-shot lead over Michael Muehr after Thursday's opening round of the Buy.com Tour Richmond Open.

Last week's Knoxville Open runner-ups Chris Smith and Spike McRoy each posted 67s to finish the day tied at three-under with Todd Demsey, Conrad Ray, Steve Runge and Shreveport Open winner Kent Jones.

Zambri opened with a birdie putt from 15 feet on the first hole and stayed at one-under until he holed his six-iron from 178 yards for eagle on the 426-yard, par-four eighth hole to jump to minus-three.

"Anytime you make a two on a par-four, you're stealing one from the field," said Zambri, who went on to birdie holes 10 and 12 to finish out his scoring.

Zambri managed to hit 10 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens over the course of his round at the 6,987-yard, par-70 Stonehenge Golf and Country Club.

Muehr, who played the back nine first on Thursday, was two-over through four holes with bogeys on 12 and 13.

"My spirits were a little down at that point," Muehr admitted. "Still, I knew I had gotten past the toughest stretch on the course."

Muehr quickly got back on track, birdieing five of the next six holes to climb to three-under. He added another birdie on the par-five sixth to finish alone in second with a four-under 66.

Defending champion Darron Stiles struggled to shoot 74 and is nine strokes off the lead at four-over.

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