Ben Bates tied the Brown Deer Park course record with a nine-under-par 62 to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Greater Milwaukee Open yesterday.
Mark Calcavecchia and Tom Pernice Jr opened with 64s, while Paraguay's Carlos Franco topped a seven-player group at 65.
Bates was a 37-year-old newcomer on the US PGA Tour last season after 13 years in golf's minor leagues. He quit the game for two years to work in recycling, and spent the previous eight years on the Nike Tour.
"I told the guys I felt like Tiger Woods out there today," said Bates in his first visit to a PGA Tour interview-room.
"Those things don't happen to me. You watch guys like Woods and David Duval on TV, and even with their bad shots, something good happens. That's what it was like."
Woods, Duval and most of America's biggest names have skipped the event to prepare for next week's Open at Carnoustie.
Bates's 62 matched the course record shared by Nolan Henke, Loren Roberts and Chris Perry.
