Lake Wylie, SC – Alex Hamilton of Aiken, SC carded a first-round 66 at the eGolf Tour's River Hills Classic on Wednesday and will carry a one-shot lead into Thursday's second round of the $235,000 event.

As with most players in the field, Hamilton was hit with a surprise burst of cold morning weather when he wandered out of his hotel room in the early hours.

"I was surprised at the temperatures just like everyone else," said Hamilton. "When I woke up, I saw that it was going to be around 40 degrees when we teed off. I wound up digging through my golf bag to find an extra turtleneck to throw on."

Unseasonably cold temperatures for late April put the majority of the 204-player field in sweaters and jackets before mid-morning sun eventually allowed conditions to improve.

Beginning on the front nine at tournament host River Hills Country Club, Hamilton struggled to get anything going early as a stout wind blew straight into the players for the first three holes.

"The cold and the wind definitely made the first few holes a lot harder," said Hamilton, who captured the lone win of his eGolf Tour career in nearby Rock Hill, SC in 2006.

Birdies at Nos. 4 and 6 took the former South Carolina Gamecock golfer to 2-under on his round. A missed 3-foot par putt at the downhill par-4 ninth would leave him to turn at 1-under 35, but it would only be a short while before his round would kick start itself.

After a decent tee shot on the par-5 10th, Hamilton was debating clubs on a downhill approach which requires a forced carry over a small, yet accurately placed pond.

"I was in between a 3-wood and a hybrid from 230 yards and wound up lacing a hybrid to 10 feet for eagle," Hamilton said. "Once I made that putt, it kind of jump-started my back nine."

Birdies at 11 and 12 would soon follow, and a latter birdie at the narrow par-4 14th would quickly send Hamilton to 6-under for the day, where he would eventually finish with an opening-round 66.

Tommy BiershenkRiver Hills, a 1969 Willard Byrd design, is arguably one of the narrowest layouts in the greater Charlotte area. Mature trees and dramatic slopes frame each hole and require players to use brain rather than brawn to guide their way around the course which occasionally skirts the banks of scenic Lake Wylie. For Hamilton, the tighter the course, the more he likes it.

"For me, tight is much better. I tend to keep it in play – strategy is more my style," Hamilton said after his round. "I like that if you hit it offline, you can get penalized."

Indeed, Hamilton's maiden eGolf Tour win came on a similar course in Rock Hill (SC) Country Club – an old A.W. Tillinghast design that measures only 6,600 yards but requires players to manipulate the ball in both directions.

For his second round, Hamilton will move to co-host Palisades Country Club, which sits just over the Buster Boyd Bridge on the North Carolina side of Lake Wylie. It will be Hamilton's first trip around The Palisades, having spent his Monday practice round day attempting to qualify for the PGA TOUR's Quail Hollow Championship.

A quartet of players sits tied for second, one shot behind Hamilton. Tommy Biershenk, Matt Hendrix, Fielding Brewbaker and Matt Cook each posted rounds of 5-under 67 to earn a spot near the top of the 18-hole leaderboard. Of the four players, Brewbaker was the only one to card 67 at River Hills. Biershenk, Hendrix and Cook each shot 67 at The Palisades.

Matt HendrixFor Biershenk, a past eGolf Tour champion and Clemson University "All American," a good first round at The Palisades is hopefully a sign of things to come. Long thought of as one of the best ball strikers anywhere in the Carolinas, the former Nationwide Tour player entered the week on the heels of three consecutive missed cuts and not a single round under 70 this year.

Hendrix, a former Clemson "All American" himself, birdied Nos. 3-6 on the Jack Nicklaus-designed Palisades course en route to a front-nine 32. Birdies at 12 and 17 brought the former PGA TOUR player to 6-under on his round, but a bogey at the par-4 18th would drop him back into a tie for second.

A native of Aiken, SC now living in Greenville, SC, Hendrix played 18 holes of the tour's season-opening event on Hilton Head Island before withdrawing to be with his wife for the birth of their first child. Since then, Hendrix notched back-to-back top-20 finishes before missing the cut in his last start two weeks ago.

The second round of the River Hills Classic will begin at 8:00 AM on Thursday morning at both River Hills and Palisades. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge.