By ,
Published January 08, 2015
Broussard, LA (SportsNetwork.com) - Kyle Reifers and Ryan Blaum both shot 6- under 65 on Thursday and they were atop the leaderboard at the Louisiana Open when the first round was called due to darkness.
Reifers has one win on the Web.com Tour, while Blaum is looking for his first victory.
Fabian Gomez, who shared second place at this event in 2012, opened with a 5- under 66. He was joined in third place by Jeff Curl, Glen Day and Doug LaBelle. Ryan Baca was also at minus-5, but had only completed 16 holes of his opening round at Le Triomphe Golf & Country Club.
Andres Echavarria, the 2011 runner-up, shares eighth place with Shane Bertsch, Richard S. Johnson, Scott Dunlap and Jeff Klauk at 4-under 67. Jonathan Randolph was through 17 holes at minus-4.
Baca and Randolph were two of five players left on the course was play was called due to darkness.
Reifers started on the back nine and flew up the leaderboard. He birdied the 12th and 14th to get to 2-under. Reifers connected on back-to-back birdie chances at 16 and 17.
After a par on the 18th, Reifers birdied No. 1 to get to 5-under. He dropped a shot on the fourth, but birdied the par-5 fifth. Reifers again traded a bogey for a birdie from the sixth.
Reifers capped his round with a birdie on the eighth to share the lead.
"There's some considerable wind out there and at times it's a couple of clubs. You just have to play for it. I played solid all day. Even my two bogeys were pretty good shots and pretty good putts," Reifers admitted. "You have to have the mindset not to let those affect you."
Blaum started with a birdie on the par-5 12th, but he gave that shot right back with a bogey on 13. He flew up the leaderboard with four straight birdies from the 15th.
The 30-year-old drained consecutive birdie tries at two and three to get to minus-6. Blaum tripped to a bogey on the sixth, but came right back with a birdie on the seventh to regain a piece of the lead. He parred the last two holes to end there.
"I'm very satisfied. I haven't gotten off to a very good start this year. I've been hitting the ball well, but not really scoring," said Blaum, who missed the cut in his last two starts and finished outside the top 25 in the other two. "Hitting the greens is one thing, but hitting greens in certain proximity to the hole is another."
NOTES: Lift, clean and place rules were in effect since thunderstorms had been in the forecast, but never came ... The first round will resume Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. (ET) with the second round starting as scheduled at 8:40 a.m. ... Josh Broadaway had his first competitive hole-in-one on the par-3 eighth.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/reifers-blaum-share-louisiana-open-lead