Romero grabs 1-point lead in Reno

Reno, NV – Andres Romero carded seven birdies in the first round Thursday to tally 14 points, which gave him a 1-point lead at the Reno- Tahoe Open.

Romero, who tied for second at The Memorial, has just one other top-20 finish this season.

This event is using the Modified Stableford scoring system which awards eight points for double eagles, five for eagles, two for birdies, zero for pars and subtracts one point for bogeys and three points for double-bogey or worse.

Seung-Yul Noh also had seven birdies, but also tripped to a lone bogey on the seventh. He is alone in second place with 13 points.

Ricky Barnes, Josh Teater and John Mallinger share third place with 11 points.

Two-time major champion John Daly posted 10 points. He was joined in sixth place at Montreux Golf and Country Club by Hunter Haas, Danny Lee, J.J. Henry and Patrick Cantlay.

Romero, who has missed seven cuts on the PGA Tour this season, carded consecutive birdies from the second and fifth to pick up eight points through six holes.

The Argentine made the turn with 10 points thanks to a birdie on the ninth.

Around the turn, Romero birdied the 13th and 18th, both par-5s, to take the first-round lead.

"Well, seven birdies and 11 pars, that's unusual for me. I usually have a lot of birdies and bogeys as well," admitted Romero through a translator. "I was very aggressive. The key was the greens. I had a good feeling on the greens, and that's why I got that score."

Noh started his round with birdies on the first and second. He parred the next four holes, then tripped to a bogey on the par-3 seventh.

The 21-year-old South Korean birdied the ninth to make the turn with five points.

Like Romero, Noh birdied both par-5s on the back nine. Noh followed his birdie on the 13th with another at 14. He rolled in a birdie chance at the 17th and followed with another at 18 to jump into second place.

"I didn't want to play this week. I played last week and I wanted to rest this week before playing the PGA Championship, but my caddie wanted me to play this week," stated Noh.

Todd Hamilton, Chris Kirk, Harrison Frazar, Bryce Molder and Billy Mayfair are tied for 11th with nine points, while John Rollins and Stuart Appleby are in the group one point back with eight.

NOTES: Last year's winner Scott Piercy won the Canadian Open last week to get a spot in this week's opposite event, the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational...The International was the last event to use the Stableford scoring system, and was last contested in 2006...Four former International winners -- Rod Pampling, Tom Pernice, Jr., Rich Beem and Lee Janzen -- are in the field with Pernice leading that group with seven points.