It was a hot and humid day at Country Club of Paducah for the opening round of the 105th Clark's Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur, but severe weather stayed away and allowed for a terrific opening to this year's championship. Leading the pack after the first round are Luke Fuller, Robbie Bender and Jacob Poore, all of whom recorded rounds of 69 (-3). Matt McCurry and Nick Johnston are their closest pursuers who are one stroke behind following their scores of 70 (-2).

Luke Fuller of Mount Sterling utilized a blazing hot stretch from holes 7-11 which he played in four under to vault up the leaderboard. "I hit the ball really well and found a lot of fairways," Fuller said. "Made some putts too so it's a lot easier to score well when you do that. Hopefully I can do the same thing on Wednesday and put myself in position going into the last round." Fuller's second round will begin on the 10th tee at 2:15 p.m CDT tomorrow.

Louisville's Robbie Bender had a round that did not begin quite as he would have hoped after making bogey on the par-five 1st hole, but after righting the ship to shoot 36 (E) on the outward nine, a bogey-free 33 (-3) on the back nine got him in the thick of things. "I hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens out there, and this is a tough place to play if you are not in the short grass," Bender said. "I just need to keep doing that and focus on making more birdies." Round two will commence for him at 8:40 a.m CDT tomorrow on the 10th tee."

Jacob Poore of Union had his round highlighted by an eagle on the par-five 5th hole. Despite a double bogey on the par-three 14th, four other birdies helped him navigate Country Club of Paducah to join the golfers at the top of the leaderboard. "I played really well off the tee and afforded myself a lot of opportunities to hit wedges into some of the par fours," Poore explained. "Fortunately that led to some putts below the hole and I was able to get a few birdies out there. Outside of one mistake on the 14th it was a really solid round." Poore will also begin his round at 8:40 a.m CDT, but will be on the 1st hole while Bender is on the 10th.

ROUND ONE NOTES:

• The par-three 2nd hole played as the most difficult hole on the golf course today at +0.84 over par. 39 players in the 152 person field recorded a double bogey or worse.
• The par-five 18th hole was the easiest hole in the first round at +0.06. 37 birdies were recorded there, and while 0 eagles were recorded, several players had good opportunities at eagle there.
• Davis Boland had perhaps the most interesting round of the early contenders today. He recorded six birdies and three bogeys, but was hurt by a quadruple bogey on the 1st. In spite of that, he recorded a round of 73 (+1) which sits T9 after the first round.

Round two will once again start with 8:00 a.m CDT tee times off the 1st and 10th tees. Click here for Wednesday's tee sheet. Full scores from the opening day can be found here.