Toasty weather and firm conditions greeted Kentucky PGA Professionals in the opening round of the 68^th Kentucky PGA Professional Championship. Temperatures reached 100 degrees on Monday afternoon at Indian Hills Country Club in Bowling Green and coupled with the firm and dry conditions of the golf course, low scores were hard to come by to begin the Championship.

Brent Paladino, the Executive Director of Golf House Kentucky leads at the halfway point following a round of 68 (-3). Paladino recorded only one bogey throughout the day which came on the par-four 7^th. Otherwise, two birdies and an eagle on the par-five 16^th vaulted him into a one-stroke lead over Blake Watts, the Head Golf Professional at Wildwood Country Club. An extremely congested leaderboard follows with twelve players sitting within five strokes of Paladino’s lead.

Tomorrow’s final round will begin at 9:00 a.m. CDT with each group teeing off the first tee, culminating with the final tee time at 11:10 a.m. CDT which will contain Paladino, Watts and Kenton Hobbs, an Assistant Golf Professional at Louisville Country Club. Click here to view the round two tee times.

ROUND ONE NOTES:

• Bowling Green’s very own Jacob Schakat, an Assistant Golf Professional at The Club at Olde Stone, got off to a blistering start and was four under par after six holes and posted an opening nine of 31 (-4). Five bogeys and a double bogey on the back nine leading to 43 (+7) demonstrated how the difficult the inward nine can play and puts him T14. The front nine played at an average of +2.64 while the back nine was +2.99.
• Today’s hardest hole was the 2nd which was +0.73. Despite being a par-five, the hole proved difficult with its 600-yard length and difficult layup area. Only one player made birdie while nine players made double bogey or worse.
• The easiest hole was the par-five 13th which played +0.02. A dozen players made birdie on what became one of the few holes on the inward nine that could be taken advantage of.

Click here to view the leaderboard.

Golf House Kentucky’s social media networks will have frequent updates throughout tomorrow’s closing stretch. A live video will be available to view on Facebook as the contenders play the 18^th hole. Another video will become available if a playoff is required to determine a champion.