Southport, NC –Peter Malnati of Dandridge, TN entered the first round of the eGolf Tour’s third annual Championship at St. James Plantation on shaky ground after two less-than-stellar practice rounds and a golf swing that wasn’t necessarily clicking. A late-day practice session on Tuesday afternoon, however, cured his woes and led to a record-setting Wednesday for the third-year tour member. Ten birdies and a lone bogey on the Founders Club course at St. James gave Malnati a course-record 63 and the day one lead through 18 holes of the 72-hole event.

The Championship at St. James Plantation is the sixth of 24 scheduled events on the 2012 eGolf Tour schedule, and is being contested this week at both the Reserve Club and Founders Club courses at St. James Plantation in Southport, NC.

Malnati, who entered the week still in search of his first top-10 of the year, began his opening round on the back nine of the P.B. Dye-designed Founders Club course with back-to-back birdies – a start that more than set the stage for his record-setting round.

“I hit a wedge to about a foot on No. 10, then hit the 3-wood of my life on No. 11 to set up another good birdie,” said Malnati, 24. “From there, I was able to ease into my round and get things going.”

Birdies on 13 and 16 gave Malnati a back-nine 32, and let the former University of Missouri golfer turn at 4-under to set up a torrid stretch of golf on the demanding front nine at the Founders Club.

Birdies on Nos. 1, 2 and 3 pushed Malnati to 7-under for the day, but an overly-aggressive approach to the par-5 fourth left him with a senseless bogey on an otherwise-brilliant day.

“I always get mad at myself for bailing out on tough approach shots,” said Malnati, who had 227 yards for his second shot to the par-5. “I didn’t bail out this time, but I did hook it into a pond, which led to my bogey. It was a stupid shot, no doubt.”

To his credit, Malnati followed the rogue bogey with birdies at No. 5 and 6 to move to 8-under on the day. A closing birdie at the difficult par-4 ninth gave him a career-best 63 and the tournament’s first-round lead.

“That’s without a doubt the best round I’ve ever played,” said Malnati, who birdied all four par-3s on the day. “The conditions were tough this morning, and honestly, if you would have given me 3-under at the start, I would have taken it.”

Malnati’s 63 broke the prior course record of 65, set by current PGA TOUR member Jason Kokrak at the event’s 2011 edition. Kokrak, who won four times on the eGolf Tour in 2010 and 2011, won the third of his four titles at St. James last year.

For Malnati, the round marked a change in outlook and a change in approach. Rather than treating each shot like a life-or-death situation, or one in which perfection was the only answer, he opted to choose the road less traveled by the professional golfer – he lowered his expectations.

“I just tried to quit worrying about hitting great shots. I just focused on hitting decent shots, and it worked,” he said. “I think that helped me to stay relaxed and just concentrate on the important things out there. You’re not going to hit it perfectly each time, so sometimes you have to be complacent with just a good shot.”

Malnati is in the midst of his third full season on the eGolf Tour, and is coming off of a 2011 campaign in which he collected four top-10 finishes, including a T6 at this event. With over $45,000 in earnings, Malnati finished 19th on the tour’s money list.

Tied for second, three shots behind Malnati, are T.J. Howe of Osceola, PA, David Robinson of Sandersville, GA, Jonas Enander Hedin of Sweden, and Chesson Hadley of Raleigh, NC.

Howe, playing in the day’s first threesome off of No. 1 at the Founders Club, birdied six of his first eight holes for a front-nine 30. On the closing nine, Howe bogeyed three of his first six holes, but added birdies at Nos. 11, 14 and 18 to finish with an even-par 36 for his 6-under 66 effort.

A former Penn State University standout, Howe is in his first full season of competing on the eGolf Tour, and has made two of four cuts thus far entering the week at St. James. At the season-opening Palmetto Hall Championship, Howe posted rounds of70-70-69-72—281 for a T6 finish – his best to date of the 2012 season.

Robinson, the tour’s leading money winner in 2008, is on a 47-tournament winless streak on the eGolf Tour, dating back to the Charlotte National Open in September of that magical year when he became the tour’s first $100,000 player.

On Wednesday at the Founders Club, Robinson – who split time between the eGolf and Nationwide Tours over the past two years – rediscovered some of that prior magic with eight birdies and two bogeys for his lowest round of the year. Starting on No. 10, Robinson birdied four of his first six holes before posting a bogey at the short par-4 18th for a 3-under 33 on his outward nine.

Birdies at Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 6 took the former Georgia College & State University golfer to 7-under for the day, but a bogey at the par-4 seventh dropped him back down to 6-under, where he finished after pars at Nos. 8 and 9.

Hedin, a former UNC Charlotte golfer originally from Stockholm, is two weeks removed from a career-best third-place finish at the River Run Classic. Still fresh with momentum, Hedin carded a bogey-free 66 at Founders Club – courtesy of an eagle at the par-5 fourth– for the second-lowest round of his four-year eGolf Tour career (62, Rd. 2, 2010 Callaway Gardens Championship).

Starting on the front nine at Founders, Hedin pared his first three holes before moving into the red with the eagle at No. 4. Back-to-back birdies at Nos. 6 and 7 took the Concord, NC resident to 4-under on his round, while back nine birdies at 11 and 18 gave him the day one 66.

Hadley, a three-time “All American” at NCAA powerhouse Georgia Tech, posted the day’s low round at the host Reserve Club with a bogey-free 66. Beginning on the front nine of the demanding Jack Nicklaus-designed course, Hadley birdied Nos. 3, 6, 7 and 9 for a front-nine 32. On the back nine, the former Yellow Jacket star added birdies at the difficult par-4 14th and the reachable par-5 17th to move to 6-under overall, where he finished his round after a closing par at the last.

The opening 66 was a mere continuation of good play thus far on the year for Hadley. After contemplating a “day job” during the offseason, Hadley came out strong in 2012 with two top-5 finishes in his first three starts. Finishes of T46 and T13 since have Hadley at No. 6 on the tour’s money list, with $21,020 in earnings in just five starts.

Second-round play in The Championship at St. James Plantation will begin at 8:00 AM on Thursday morning at both the Reserve Club and the Founders Club. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge.