US NATIONWIDE TOUR

John Riegger leads Louisiana Open with a 66

FROM THE PGA.COM WEBSITE
BROUSSARD, Louisiana: John Riegger rolled in a 10ft birdie putt as darkness fell to break an eight-way tie for the opening-round lead in the Chitimacha Louisiana Open, the initial domestic stop on the 2010 United States Nationwide Tour schedule.
Riegger polished off a 5-under 66 at the Le Triomphe Country Club minutes after play was suspended for the day and moved in front of seven others in the weather-delayed first round.
Vance Veazey, Garth Mulroy, Luke List, Jason Enloe and Monday qualifier Patrick Grady all posted 4-under 67s and are tied for second place.
The tour's return to the United States was delayed 70 minutes at daybreak because of rain and thunderstorms. Failing to start on time resulted in 20 players failing to finish their rounds.
Aron Price is 4 under and will return to putt out on the final hole in the morning, while Casey Clendenon is 4 under with three holes to go.
Scott Gutschewski, Tag Ridings, Kevin Kisner, Charles Warren and Jon Mills are tied at 3-under 68 and holding a share of ninth place.
Riegger, 46, capped off a seven-birdie effort shortly after the horn was sounded to suspend play at 7:27 p.m. His 3-iron from 215 yards settled just past the pin and gave him a chance to break the logjam that formed at minus-4.
"I couldn't even see my second shot land," said Riegger, who has undergone Lasik surgery three times, most recently in 2006. "I thought it was in the bunker. Nobody clapped and when I got up there and saw it was close, I was surprised. To make that putt, in low-light conditions was just a bonus."
It's all been a bonus to this point for Riegger, who had major surgery in December to repair ligament damage and a torn labrum in his right shoulder.
"I didn't know if I was going to play again," he said. "I gave myself a pretty good attitude adjustment because I didn't know if I'd be able to play golf again."
So far, so good to open the year for Riegger, who tied for 29th at the Panama Claro Championship and tied for sixth at the Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open the following week.
It was also a pretty good day to Veazey, who struggled at time to hit eight fairways and 13 greens in regulation while posting the first of the 67s that made it to the leaderboard.
"There's only one reason I shot 4 under today -- the putter," said Veazey. "I need to hit the ball much better the next three days. I struggled with my ball-striking pretty bad today. I made four or five putts that were the difference in my score."
One of those putts was racing, 60-foot birdie from off the green at the par-5 seventh.
"I was just hoping to get that up-and-down and it went in the hole," he said. "That could have been a two-shot swing there.I feel like I just as easily could have shot 1 over par. Golf is always interesting."
It's been an interesting couple of weeks for Grady, who turned 23 on St. Patrick's Day. The University of Colorado All-America finished at 19 under par to win a mini-tour event 90 miles away in Alexandria, La., last week. He then carded a 64 in the Monday qualifier to get into this tournament, his first career start on the Nationwide Tour.
"It's different today. It's a Nationwide event and I got a little nervous out there," said the 2009 CU grad. "It's a little nerve-wracking at first but you try to lie to yourself that it's just golf. That's the game plan for the rest of the week -- just lying to yourself."
FIRST ROUND LEADERS (play suspended)
Par 71
Completed scores
1 John Riegger 66
T2 Vance Veazey 67
T2 Garth Mulroy 67
T2 Luke List 67
T2 Jason Enloe 67
T2 Patrick Grady 67
T7 -- Scott Gutschewski 68
T7 -- Tag Ridings 68
T7-- Kevin Kisner 68
T7 -- Charles Warren 68
T7 -- Jon Mills 68
T12 -- Cliff Kresge 69
T12 -- Gavin Coles 69
T12 -- Jonas Blixt 69
T12 -- Martin Piller 69
T12 -- Bronson La'Cassie 69
T12 -- Mark D. Anderson 69
T12 -- Justin Smith 69
T12 -- Stephen Leaney 69
T12 -- Rick Price 69
T12 -- Rich Barcelo 69
T22 -- Rob Oppenheim 70
T22 -- Fabian Gomez 70
T22 -- Kyle Reifers 70
T22 -- Major Manning 70
T22 -- Ryan Armour 70
T22 -- Ted Brown 70
T22 -- Matthew Borchert 70
T22 -- Scott Sterling 70
T22 -- Glen Day 70
T22 -- Notah Begay III 70
T22 -- Casey Wittenberg 70
T22 -- Frank Lickliter 70
T22 -- Zack Miller 70
T22 -- B.C. Thibeaux 70
T22 -- Fran Quinn 70
T22 -- Jeff Gallagher 70
T22 -- Dan Buchner 70
T22 -- Brendan Steele 70
T22 -- Brian Smock 70
T22 -- David Branshaw 70
T22 -- Brad Adamonis 70
T22 -- Arjun Atwal 70