If any member's bounces went Carl Pettersson's way Thursday at Sedgefield Country Club, well, there's a good reason for that.
"That's right - I am a member," Pettersson said, laughing. "I forgot."
Pettersson shot an 8-under 62 to take the firstround lead in the Wyndham Championship.
David Mathis and Tim Clark were a stroke back, Tom Gillis, Scott Stallings and Troy Matteson shot 64, and Matt Every had a 65 in the final event before the FedEx Cup playoffs.
The top of the leaderboard had a decidedly local flavour. Pettersson went to high school in Greensboro and lives in Raleigh, and both he and Clark played at North Carolina State.
Mathis grew up in WinstonSalem, played collegiately at Campbell and lives north of Raleigh in the town of Wake Forest.
Pettersson, a Swede who became an American citizen during the off-season, had the best first round of his PGA Tour career and his best round at this event since 2008, when he set the tournament record with a second-round 61 and went on to win in his adopted hometown.
Starting on the back nine, he reeled off consecutive birdies on Nos. 5-8 to move to 8 under. He had a chance to match his record on No. 9, but pushed his 30-foot birdie putt roughly a foot to the right of the hole.
