Gulfport, MS – With morning showers saturating host Windance Country Club, competitors in eGolf’s inaugural Island View Casino Championship took full advantage of soft conditions during Wednesday’s opening round of the $225,000 event. Through 18 holes, six players sit tied for the lead at 8-under par, including former Mississippi State star Matt Fast of Canton, MS, who played bogey-free golf en route to a first-round 64.

Fast’s week at the Mark McCumber-designed course began in solid fashion, with early birdies on Nos. 3, 4, 7 and 9 giving way to a 4-under 31 on the turn.

At the par-4 10th, Fast carded his fifth birdie of the day after getting relief from a cart path.

“I hit a poor tee shot on 10 to the right, and wound up in the rough with mud on my ball – but, I got relief from the cart path, and was able to hit it to a foot,” he said. “That’s not going to happen with mud on your ball, so that was a good break that kept the round going.”

The good break on 10 led to a trifecta of birdies on 12, 13 and 14, which pushed the Bulldog standout to 8-under for the day – suddenly tied for the lead with four holes to go.

Closing pars over Nos. 15 through 18 kept Fast at 8-under par, and in the house with a first-round 64 and a share of the logjam at the top of the day one leaderboard.

“It was a good day; a lot of good iron shots and opportunities for birdies,” Fast said after his round. “There were a few more putts that could have gone in, but then again I putted well. It was very easy.”

Easy was a welcome adjective for Fast, who spent all of 2014 on the Web.com Tour. After missing his first five cuts of the year, the 27-year-old made four straight weekends during a stretch of golf that featured two top-20 finishes and a season-best T9 at the WNB Golf Classic.

Brian Vranesh

Fast posted a T14 at the Air Capital Classic in June, then again hit a slide with five missed cuts leading into the most important stretch of the year – the August events leading into the Web.com Tour Finals.

As he did earlier in the year, Fast rebounded from the mid-season slump, posting top-45 finishes in the last three events of the regular season, but missing out on the Finals after finishing outside the top 75 on the money list.

Trying to get inside that top 75, Fast made headlines late in the year with a pair of back-to-back first-round leads at the News Sentinel Open (65) and the Portland Open (63). The fast starts gave way to T30 and T41 finishes, respectively, but nevertheless cast a bright light on his second Web.com Tour season.

“It was an up-and-down year. I played good in two stretches, and then in the end it was disappointing,” he said. “Having the lead in Portland at the last event of the year, and having the lead in Knoxville the week before that, and then making some big numbers over the weekend to not get into the playoffs.”

As with any experience in golf, Fast grew from his stint in the opening-round limelight.

“I took the good from it, knowing it was just a couple of swings keeping me out of the top 50 on the money list. I just need to keep doing what I’m doing to put myself in those situations,” he said.

With the Web.com Tour crisscrossing the country and contesting four events in South America, Fast was happy to head home to the Magnolia State for this week’s event, which marks just his second career star on the eGolf Tour.

As a three-time Mississippi Class 5A individual medalist at Oak Grove High School (2003, 2004, 2005), Fast’s popularity at home is only rivaled by his local knowledge at Windance.

Matt Short

“The course is only an hour from where I grew up. I’ve played this course 20 times, and I’ve got some friends on the coast, so it’s nice,” Fast said. “I haven’t played this course in the summertime in probably 10 years. In the winter months it plays pretty tough, but now with the rain and soft conditions, it’s looking like I’ll have to go out and just keep making birdies.”

Joining Fast atop the early leaderboard was Brian Vranesh of Phoenix, AZ, Matt Short of Hudson, NC, Darren Angel of Northridge, CA, Dustin Bray of Asheboro, NC and Josh Apple of Leesburg, VA.

Vranesh began Wednesday’s opening round on the par-4 10th with two consecutive pars before erupting with seven birdies over a 10-hole stretch to vault to 7-under par for the day.

Birdies on Nos. 6 and 7 pushed him into the outright lead at 9-under par, but a closing bogey at the ninth left him at 8-under for the round.

The former College of the Canyons star spent 2007 on the Web.com Tour before breaking through at Q-School in December of 2008, where a T18 finish left him on golf’s grandest stage in 2009.

In his lone season on the PGA TOUR, Vranesh made just six cuts in 20 starts, but notched a T8 at the Buick Open to secure his first top-10.

The 36-year-old spent 2010 through 2012 back on the PGA TOUR’s developmental circuit, collecting a trio of top-10 finishes, including a runner-up at the 2010 Chitimacha Louisiana Open – where he lost to former U.S. Amateur champion Bubba Dickerson on the first playoff hole.

Short, who played alongside Vranesh on day one, opened his week on the back nine at Windance with an early eagle on the par-5 12th, followed by birdies on 13 and 15 to turn in 4-under 33.

The 30-year-old birdied Nos. 1 and 2 to reach 6-under total, then added late birdies on the par-4 sixth and the par-4 ninth to close out a 4-under 31 and an opening-round 64.

Short is making his sixth start of the year on the eGolf Tour, having notched a pair of top-30 finishes at the Mimosa Hills Open (T26) and the Cabarrus Classic (T19) this summer. The T19 marked the second-best finish of his six-year eGolf Tour career, which kicked off when he turned professional in 2008 following a standout career at Lees-McRae College.

Short is two weeks removed from setting a course-record 58 at his home club of Mimosa Hills Country Club in Morganton, NC, which was longtime home to famed amateur Billy Joe Patton, who competed in the Walker Cup five times and finished third in the 1954 Masters Tournament as an amateur.

Angel, who won on eGolf West earlier this year at the Mountain View Classic, played bogey-free golf in the first round, closing with four birdies in his final six holes to open the week with a 64.

One of the top junior players in the country in the mid-1990s, Angel played on the Web.com Tour in 2008 and 2011, recording a combined 41 starts between the two years and a career-best T27 at the Chattanooga Classic in 2008.

Bray, a four-time winner on the eGolf Tour, was the lone player in the quintet to card his 64 in the day’s afternoon wave.

The former UNC Tar Heel star birdied Nos. 10 through 14 to open his week with a 5-under 32 on the back nine, then added a birdie on the par-3 fourth and an eagle on the par-5 seventh to close out an 8-under par day.

The 33-year-old won three times on eGolf Tour Florida last winter on his way to claiming the tour’s money title. Bray spent 2007 through 2009 on the Web.com Tour, posting four top-10 finishes, one of which was a runner-up at the 2008 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational.

Dustin Bray

All told, the former ACC champion has five career top-10s on the Web.com Tour circuit, most recently notching a T6 effort at the 2012 Rex Hospital Open.

Apple, who finished late in the day as the sun was setting over Windance Country Club, was the only one of the six leaders to card more than a single bogey on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old bogeyed the par-4 sixth and the par-4 14th, but surrounded both fives with an impressive 10 birdies overall – including six in a seven-hole stretch from Nos. 7 through 13.

The 64 marked a career-low for Apple, who is in his second full season on the eGolf Tour.

Patrick Lundy of Little River, SC, Jesse Hutchins of Kirkersville, OH, Justin Smith of Australia and Drew Perry of Waxhaw, NC are tied for seventh, one shot back of the leaders after matching rounds of 6-under 66.

The Island View Casino Championship is the second of four tournaments between August and December that make up eGolf’s Million Dollar Championship Series.

The $225,000 River Hills Championship opened the four-tournament series last month, with the $250,000 Championship at Red Hawk on October 29-1 and the $300,000 eGolf Tour Championship on December 3-6 still to follow.

The second round of the Island View Casino Championship will begin at 7:30 AM on Thursday morning, with players competing in threesomes off of Nos. 1 and 10 tees. Following the completion of 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low 51 players and ties for the final two rounds of play. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge.