Marshall, Barnes share Tour Championship of Canada lead

London, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Matt Marshall and Erik Barnes opened up with matching 4-under 68s in Thursday's first round and they share the lead at the Tour Championship of Canada.

While both Marshall and Barnes each have a top-10 finish on tour this season, neither of them have won on the PGA Tour Canada.

Jay Myers, Sean Shahi, Adam Cornelson, Ryan Williams, Eugene Wong and Michael Gligic are all within one shot of the leaders at 3-under 69 after the first round on the Championship Course at Sunningdale Golf & Country Club.

Matt Harmon and Greg Eason, who are Nos. 3 and 5 respectively on the Order of Merit, are tied for ninth and are two shots back at 2-under 70. They are joined there by John Ellis, Ryan Brehm and Ted Brown.

Joel Dahmen, who holds the No. 1 spot on the Order of Merit by over $20,000, is tied for 14th with nine others at 1-under 71. The top-5 players on the Order of Merit following the Tour Championship will earn status on the Web.com Tour next season.

Marshall had a rather quiet front nine after getting off to a fast start. After making birdie on the first, Marshall rattled off eight straight pars to make the turn at minus-1.

The back nine is where Marshall made his move, starting with two gains on his first three holes at 10 and 12. Marshall gave one of those shots back with a bogey on 14, but a birdie on the par-5 15th had him right back to 3-under.

A pair of pars on 16 and 17 preceded Marshall's fifth and final gain of the day at the last to grab a share of the lead at minus-4.

Barnes had a strong opening nine, starting with birdies on one and three to quickly get him into red numbers at minus-2. Following five straight pars, Barnes gained some momentum as he made the turn with his third birdie on No. 9.

After three pars from 10, Barnes wrapped two birdies on 13 and 15 around a bogey on the 14th, getting him to 4-under. He finished with three straight pars to end there.

NOTES: Timothy Madigan, No. 2 on the Order of Merit, is near the bottom of the leaderboard. He is in 56th at 7-over 79 ... Marshall's best finish of the season came at the SIGA Dakota Dunes Open, where he ended fifth ... Barnes has missed three cuts this year, but he also finished just ahead of Marshall in fourth at the SIGA Dakota Dunes Open.