Carthage, N.C. – Cameron Yancey (Blackstone, VA) and Jason Kokrak (Warren, OH) survived stifling heat during the opening round of the eGolf Tour's Bushnell Championship on Wednesday to post matching rounds of 9-under 63 at tournament host Little River Resort en route to a share of the opening-round lead.

This week marks the second playing of the tour's Bushnell Championship, contested at Little River Resort and co-host Southern Pines Golf Club. After the completion of 36 holes, the final two rounds will be contested solely at Little River.

For Yancey, a first-round 63 was a nice continuation of good play from last week's Bolle Classic in Salisbury, NC, where rounds of 63-67-68-71—269 gave the former University of Virginia golfer a T14 finish. His key last week was a good putter, but that would eventually give way to a shaky long game over the final two rounds. That was not the case in Carthage today.

"I played good out there. I hit it a lot better than last week and was able to keep making putts," said Yancey, who also held a share of the 18-hole lead at the Bolle Classic. "I birdied 10 to get to 7-under on the round, and then inexplicably began missing greens with wedges."

A three-hole stretch of poor wedge play was resurrected by birdies at 15 and 18 to close out his lowest career round in four years on the eGolf Tour.

Temperatures approaching 100 degrees, and a heat index well over 100 degrees, put the emphasis on hydration and patience for all players in the field. The greater Pinehurst area is not known for it's calming breeze, and that was never more apparent than on a day in which countless players resorted to putting wet towels over their heads to stay cool.

"The only thing you really can do is drink a lot of water," said Yancey of the heat. "I was born and raised in Virginia, and even I'm not used to this. Temperatures in the low 100's are a shock to your system every time."

Yancey's round certainly came at the harder of the two courses, although scores would suggest both are yielding their fair share of birdies. The shorter, Donald Ross-designed Southern Pines course allows players to get aggressive with their wedges on most holes and sets a mental par of 68 at times.

Jason Kokrak"I was just telling my wife that I played the easier of the two courses today, so I'm looking forward to playing Southern Pines to see what I can do out there," said Yancey. "When scores are this low, you never really know how you stand until everyone plays both courses over 36 holes. If I can shoot a good number tomorrow, I should be ahead of the game."

Kokrak, the tour's leading money winner for the vast majority of the 2010 season prior to last week, carded a bogey-free 63 as well on Wednesday. After pars on his first three holes, and a benign start of 1-under through six holes, Kokrak erupted to the tune of eight birdies over his final 12 holes to post his lowest round of the year.

This season alone, Kokrak has four top-10s in just six starts – including a win at the Cabarrus Classic in March. That win gave the former Xavier University star a spot in the Nationwide Tour's South Georgia Classic, where he would post rounds of 68-67-75-75—285 on his way to a T13 finish and a spot in the following week's Stadion Athens Classic at UGA. The top 25 players each week on the Nationwide Tour automatically earn spots in the next full-field event. Kokrak would finish T34 in Athens.

Billy Hurley (Annapolis, MD), Andy Bare (West End, NC), Raymond Franz (Mount Pleasant, SC) and Kevin Larsen (Santa Barbara, CA) recorded the low scores of the day at Southern Pines with rounds of 8-under 63.

Hurley, a former first-team All American and United States Walker Cup team member while attending the Naval Academy, is making his eighth eGolf Tour start of the season this week. After missing two of his first four cuts, he has made three straight cuts coming into the week, including a T6 finish at the HGM Hotels Classic three weeks ago – his best result of the year.

Billy HurleyHurley turned professional after school and received exemptions into a handful of PGA TOUR events in 2006. He would go on to win the eGolf Tour's Cedarwood Classic in the fall of that year, in his only start on tour. In the summer of 2007, Hurley began a two-year station at Pearl Harbor, where he would be based when not at sea. From January to June of 2009, Hurley was based out of the South China Sea and the Red Sea. His Naval requirement ended shortly thereafter, and he was free to pursue his professional golf career.

Just one week removed from claiming his third eGolf Tour title and an exemption into the Nationwide Tour's Price Cutter Charity Championship, Tommy Biershenk (Boiling Springs, SC) is back at it again after a bogey-free 64 in round one at Little River.

In his last 13 rounds on tour, a stretch in which he's collected T3, T2 and first-place finishes, the former Clemson Tiger is a staggering 69-under par. His win at last week's Bolle Classic vaulted him to the No. 1 position on the tour's money list with 2010 earnings of $75,385. His 26-under 258 total at that event set the eGolf Tour's 72-hole scoring record.

The shots of the day came from Chris Epperson of Hilton Head Island, SC and Gator Todd of St. Simons Island, GA, who each recorded a hole-in-one in the first round. Epperson recorded his career first on the par-3 12th at Little River with a gap wedge, while Todd notched the fifth of his career with a 6-iron at the par-3 12th at Southern Pines. Epperson posted a 1-under 71, while Todd recorded a 3-under 68.

Second-round play in the Bushnell Championship will begin at 7:30 AM on Thursday morning at both Little River and Southern Pines. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge.