Garrett Smyth blistered the frontside with a 31 and took the first round lead in the annual Red Bud Invitational with a 5-under par 66 Saturday at the Valleybrook Golf Club.
Smyth, who plays out of the Lookout Mountain Golf and Country Club, made birdies on Nos. 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9.
On the backside, Smith made birdies on Nos. 11 and 14. He made one bogey on each side -- Nos. 6 and 13.
It was the irst competitive round in two and a half years for Smyth, who just regained has amateur status last September.
"Honestly, it was a pleasant surprise," Smyth said of the round.
Smyth had a sidehill four-foot putt for par at No. 1, and he made it,
giving him confidence in his putter for the rest of the day.
He has been working on swing changes suggested by his friend, Walt Moffitt.
Smyth plans on playing a national amateur schedule this summer.
Philip Guess and Cleveland's Jay Goza are one stroke back at 67 and teen-ager Adam Mitchell is at 68.
Tripp Harris and Greg Privett finished at 69.
The tournament will conclude on Sunday. The leaders will tee off at approximately noon.
FIRST ROUND SCORES
Garrett Smyth......66
Philip Guess.......67
Jay Goza...........67
Adam Mitchell......68
Tripp Harris.......69
Greg Privett.......69
Mike Craig.........70
David Noll.........70
Pete Webster.......70
Richard Cummins....71
Derek Rende........71
Tom Schreiner......71
Richard Smith......71
Kyle Cothran.......72
Jay Potter.........72
Mike Jenkins.......72
Chris Johnson......72
John Lambert.......72
Matt Mathis........73
Butch Oakes........73
Benjamin Thomas....73
Randy Yoder........73
Rem Copper.........74
Aon Miller.........74
Jeff Guerry........74
Todd Moreland......74
Dwight Robinson....74
Kent Tate..........74
Randy Teeters......74
Greg Johnson.......75
Tim Kane...........75
Chris Treadway.....75
Mitch Hufstetler...75
Sam Copper.........75
Sloan Allison......75
Gary Baker.........75
David McKenna......75
Jimmy Pierce.......75
David Ryan.........75
Brian Kopet........76
Mike Robb..........76
Rick Donahoo.......76
Jim Dunn...........76
Mike Mixson........77
Hunter Green.......77
Don Gregory........77
Robbie Treadway....77
Jimmy Watkins......77
Ron Lowery.........78
Phillip McCutchan..78
Brad Moss..........78
Angelo Napolitano..78
Lance Dupree.......79
Bob Martin.........79
G.T. Gangte........79
Tim Crawford.......79
Jeff Fletcher......80
Josh McCutcheon....80
Amy Long...........80
Ron Looney.........80
Wayne Smith........81
Larry Williams.....81
Tyler Lane.........81
Bill Weaver........81
Jack Pangle........82
Tom Myers..........83
Chip Muller........83
Blake Davidson.....83
Lee Hamilton.......87
Herman Weaver......88
Dennis Barry.......88
Will Covington.....88
Chip Goins.........88
Jeff Ott...........88
John Rice..........88
Reed Harmon........88
Roger Smith.......102
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)