Two share lead with 64's

Heath Slocum, just one win away from earning a bump up to the big leagues, fired a bogey-free eight-under-par 64 to join Brian Bateman atop the leaderboard after Thursday's first round of the Buy.com Omaha Classic.

Slocum, who also opened with 64s en route to victories at the Greater Cleveland Open and the Knoxville Open in late June and early July, is seeking to become the second player in Buy.com Tour history to earn a "battlefield promotion" to the PGA Tour for winning three times in a single season.

Chris Smith was the first player to win his way to the PGA Tour when he captured his third tournament of 1997 here at The Champions Club in Omaha.

Slocum made five birdies through the first 13 holes before reeling off three straight to end his round. He holed a 25-footer with nine feet of right-to- left break at the 16th before two-putting the 539-yard 17th to sweep the course's four par-fives.

At 18, Slocum knocked a six-iron to 20 feet and sank the putt to complete his closing birdie trio.

"It's better than making bogey, bogey, bogey," said Slocum, who leads the Buy.com Tour with $242,590 in winnings. "I made putts that you are definitely not going to make all the time. Just to even give you two more shots because you know that coming down the stretch Saturday and Sunday, those are two shots that you are probably going to need. You just get them when you can, and hopefully it's enough."

Bateman had to bogeys on his card but also had two eagles. He drove the green at the 320-yard, par-four fourth and rolled in the 12-footer that remained to quickly vault to two-under. After four straight birdies from the 13th to the 16th, Bateman hit driver, eight-iron to three feet to set up his second eagle of the day at 17.

Patrick Sheehan and Charles Warren had 65s for a share of second place, one stroke ahead of Chris Wollmann and Rod Pampling.

Deane Pappas, second behind Slocum on the season money list, shot 67 to finish round one tied with eight others at minus-five.

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