3 take low road, lead at 7-under 65

Most players weren’t sure what to expect Tuesday going into the Western Amateur.

The tricky greens and hilly terrain of The Alotian Club’s course that few had played made it anyone’s guess how the scores would end up following the first round.

Three had no problem, which might be an early indication that low scores can be expected throughout the six-day event.

Seth Reeves, Sam Smith and Cameron Wilson each shot 7-under 65 on Tuesday and shared the lead after the first of four stroke play rounds.

There will be another stroke play round today, after which the field will be cut to the top 44 and ties. Another cut to 16 will follow Friday’s round, with match play beginning Saturday.

“There’s plenty of places where you hit it that you can make par, birdie,” Wilson said. “But most other holes there are spots where you’re struggling to make par.”

Wilson, from Rowayton, Conn., avoided those Tuesday and came up inches short of having the lead all to himself when he missed a short birdie putt on 18 and had to settle for par.

“Of course I would have loved to have made it,” he said, “but I made my share out there.”

Wilson, a senior at Stanford, had six birdies and didn’t make a bogey in his round. Seth Reeves from Suwanne, Ga., birdied three of the final four holes and had the lead to himself when he headed into the clubhouse. The Georgia Tech senior did not have a bogey while shooting 31 on the back nine and birdied Nos. 10 and 11 before his late run.

“The expectation was pretty low. I was not thinking [65] at all,” said Reeves, who is playing in his first Western Amateur. “I shot under par the first time I came out here [Sunday], so I kind of knew you could, but a 65 wasn’t in my head at all.”

The top five amateur players, according to the Scratch Players World Amateur Rankings, are in the field along with last year’s U.S. Amateur champion and the winner and runner-up of last year’s Southern Amateur played at Chenal Country Club.

That didn’t seem to matter Tuesday as all of them were outplayed by Reeves, Smith and Wilson.

“Physically, we’re just the same,” Reeves said. “I match up with them just fine, but they just kind of know that they’re as good as they are. I didn’t have that for awhile.”