Lexington’s Matt Epperson has control of the 25^th Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Mid-Amateur following the opening eighteen holes of play at University Club of Kentucky (Big Blue). The first day of autumn greeted the event’s competitors with a beautiful day that was ripe for low scoring, as eight players in the Championship Division recorded rounds that were below par. Epperson was dialed in on Monday as he notched seven birdies throughout his round. Despite problems on the par-five 13^th in which he recorded a double bogey, a 67 (-5) puts him one stroke ahead of last year’s champion Andy Roberts.

Roberts, an Owensboro product, shot a round of 68 (-4) that was completed with three birdies and a bogey on both his front nine and back nine. The two-time Kentucky Mid-Amateur winner will play alongside Epperson in Tuesday’s final group plus this year’s Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur winner Nick Johnston. The three of them will make for a star-studded final group that goes off the first tee at 10:45 a.m. EDT on Tuesday morning. Johnston, who recorded a round of 70 (-2), is one of four players to have shot that number on Monday which is good enough for a tie for third place. Lexington residents Eric King and Denver Haddix plus Prospect’s David Jasper are also at that number and will play in the penultimate tee time at 10:36 a.m. EDT.

Three other divisions are taking place this week beginning with the Senior Division for players aged 50-59. Florence’s Rob Petrey built a three-stroke lead on Monday after his 70 (-2) with Sadieville’s Trey Wilburn leading the charge to catch him. The Masters Division (60-69) is in the hands of Mount Sterling’s Gary Backlund who is five strokes in front of Jay James from Ashland. Backlund shot 71 (-1) on Monday to create his commanding lead. He is not the only player with a five-stroke lead, however, as London’s Elmo Greer holds the same margin in the Legends Division (70-79) after a 72 (E) on Monday. Bruce Walters of Lexington is his nearest chaser.

ROUND ONE NOTES:

• Stanford’s Simon Brown recorded perhaps the most impressive comeback of the opening round. Starting his round on the tenth hole, Brown was five-over par after his first six holes and recorded 41 (+5) to begin the competition. 33 (-3) on the front-nine, however, brought him back towards the upper half of the leaderboard. He sits T12 after the first round.
• The par-five 16^th is the hardest hole of the competition thus far. At an average score-to-par of +0.83, lots of carnage occurred here as thirty-nine players made bogey or worse on Monday.
• While that par-five is the most difficult, it is the par-five 5^th that is the easiest so far. At -0.35, this became a hole players could feast on as two eagles and thirty-three birdies were made. The par-five 7^th saw four eagles recorded on it as well, helping to identify this as a scorable section of the golf course.
• Overall, the difficulty between the front nine and back nine is evident as the respective scoring averages were 38.57 and 40.91. Holes 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 all ranked in the top-seven of Monday’s hardest holes.

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Golf House Kentucky will have frequent updates throughout the final round on its Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages. A live video will be available to view on Facebook when the contenders reach the final hole. Another video will become available if a playoff is required to determine a champion.