None of the five could claim front-runner honors, though. Those accolades went to Houma's Kevin Morvant and the Lake Charles pair of Matt Nicholas and Doug Quienalty, who all carded a four-under-par 68 over the 6,872-yard layout that was ripe for scoring.
"I thought there would be some good scores," said Morvant, who birdied four straight holes in one stretch. "The greens are rolling perfect, and on this course if you keep it in play you can score."
"There's not a lot of room for missing out here," said Quienalty after a six-birdie, two-bogey round. "But if you hit your driver well and putt pretty well there are a lot of holes where you can make birdies."
That threesome holds a one-stroke lead over another threesome, with Broussard's Brett Guilllot joining Rod Baronet of Lecompte and Patrick Christovich of New Orleans at three-under 69. Guillot had five birdies in his round including three in a four-hole stretch to open the back side.
Lafayette's John Mendell and Grady Brame of Hammond are both one more stroke back at 70, with all five of those players who shot 69 or 70 going out in the morning grouping. Mendell was three-under with three birdies and 14 pars before a final-hole bogey.
All three players at one-under 71 are locals, including former State Amateur champion Robert Shelton and Bill Land of Lafayette and New Iberia native and former UL golfer George Cestia. Also lurking close by is two-time Mid-Amateur champion John Davis of Lafayette, part of a fivesome that shot even-par 72 on Friday.
"There could be a lot of good scores," said Cestia, who was even on the front and had eight pars and a birdie on the back nine. "I was all over the place scrambling around and shot 71."
Shelton, who was runner-up in the 2004 State Amateur the last time it was played at Oakbourne, had all of his three birdies on the four par-threes and played the rest of the course in two-over.
"I'll take 71 the way I hit it on the front nine," he said. "I hit two greens on that side and played two under, and hit seven greens on the back and was one over. Go figure."
Land said he "turned a 68 into a 71 in a hurry" after a roller-coaster round that included an eagle on the par-five third hole and three birdies but four bogeys.
That group will hope to make up shots on the lead trio in today's second round that begins at 7:30 a.m. The 144-player field will be cut to the low 60 and ties for Sunday's final round.
Another local player had the shot of the day during Friday's opening round, with Gus Malespin of Milton holing out on the 169-yard 15th hole with a 5-iron for his sixth career ace.
Nicholas opened his round with four straight birdies on the 10th through 13th holes, added another birdie at the par-four 16th to turn at five-under and birdied the par-five third hole to stand six-under. But a double-bogey on the par-three fourth derailed his early run.
Quienalty, playing in the day's next-to-last group, also had a chance at the solo lead but misfired his approach to the par-four 18th and bogeyed to slip back from five-under.
"I just came out of the shot," said Quienalty, who also got off to a hot start with a front-side 32 that included a near hole-in-one on the difficult ninth hole. "But that was about the only real miss I had...I hit the driver well and putted well. It was a lot of fun out there today."
Morvant also had his share of run with six birdies over his first 10 holes including hitting a wedge inside 12 inches on his opening 10th hole. He later had four straight birdies on 16, 17, 18 and 1.
"I kept it in play and didn't ever get in trouble," Morvant said. "Getting those early birdies kind of got me going and I made some good putts on 17, 18 and 1."
Morvant will be almost an outsider in today's final pairing at 1:39 p.m. off Oakbourne's first tee. Nicholas and Quienalty are regular partners on the ESPN Golf Challenge two-man series.
"We play together all the time," Quienalty said. "I knew what Matt had shot this morning, and I thought I was going to get him until that last hole."
LGA Mid-Amateur Scores
Matt Nicholas, Lake Charles 37-31 -- 68
Kevin Morvant, Houma 36-32 -- 68
Doug Quienalty, Lake Charles 32-36 -- 68
Brett Guillot, Broussard 35-34 -- 69
Rod Baronet, Lecompte 35-34 -- 69
Patrick Christovich, New Orleans 34-35 -- 69
John Mendell, Lafayette 33-37 -- 70
Grady Brame, Hammond 34-36 -- 70
Bill Land, Lafayette 35-36 -- 71
George Cestia, Lake Charles 36-35 -- 71
Robert Shelton, Lafayette 34-37 -- 71
John Davis, Lafayette 35-37 -- 72
Mason Rudolph Jr., Covington 37-35 -- 72
Lewis Lauve, Alexandria 36-36 -- 72
Burt Allen, Shreveport 38-34 -- 72
Eddie Lyons, Shreveport 36-36 -- 72
Scott Foreman, Mandeville 37-36 -- 73
John Talley, St. Martinville 38-35 -- 73
Ben Wheeler, Baton Rouge 36-37 -- 73
John Henchy, Baton Rouge 36-37 -- 73
Marc Noel, Abbeville 35-38 -- 73
Joshua Camp, Rayne 37-36 -- 73
John Thames, Bossier City 38-35 -- 73
Tom Danos, Covington 36-38 -- 74
Herman Thibeaux, Lafayette 36-38 -- 74
Garrett Prather, Baton Rouge 37-37 -- 74
Jeff Calloway, Baton Rouge 36-38 -- 74
Page Breaux, Baton Rouge 35-39 -- 74
Jody Lormand, Lafayette 37-37 -- 74
Brett Ashmore, Lafayette 35-39 -- 74
Doug Farr, Monroe 36-38 -- 74
Frank Brame, Alexandria 35-39 -- 74
Cade Hebert, Rayne 37-37 -- 74
Gene Dark, Lake Charles 39-35 -- 74
Sean Hillis, New Orleans 37-38 -- 75
John Pantaleo, Lafayette 35-40 -- 75
Jay Coxe, Madisonville 37-38 -- 75
Robby Going, Lake Charles 37-38 -- 75
Bo Stewart, Lake Charles 38-37 -- 75
Billy Gabbert, Sulphur 36-39 -- 75
Steve Inzenga, Baton Rouge 37-38 -- 75
Robby McWilliams, Bossier City 38-37 -- 75
Gayle Sanchez, Baton Rouge 36-39 -- 75
James Hamilton, Lafayette 39-36 -- 75
Mike Meadows, Lafayette 39-36 -- 75
Frank Briseno, Harahan 38-37 -- 75
Ben Hargis, Alexandria 35-40 -- 75
Ron Hardin, Borussard 38-38 -- 76
Bob Cooper, Monroe 39-37 -- 76
Brad Mosing, Lafayette 38-38 -- 76
Dennis Smith, Lafayette 39-37 -- 76
Jeff D'Amico, Lafayette 37-39 -- 76
Adam Paul Langlinais, Broussard 38-38 -- 76
Richie Kabrich, Madisonville 36-40 -- 76
Jason Lewis, Alexandria 37-39 -- 76
Chip Lee, Geismar 38-38 -- 76
Daniel Berger, New Orleans 39-37 -- 76
Roger Welch, New Iberia 40-37 -- 77
Trey Blue, St. Francisville 39-38 -- 77
Mark Tolson, Lafayette 41-36 -- 77
Aaron Polk, Monroe 39-38 -- 77
Greg Bourque, Lafayette 37-40 -- 77
Mike Emerson, Youngsville 42-35 -- 77
Garrett Theriot, Broussard 41-37 -- 78
Clint Meche, Rayne 38-40 -- 78
Can Le, Baton Rouge 39-39 -- 78
Wade Gautreau, Baton Rouge 38-40 -- 78
Jeff Lorio, New Orleans 41-37 -- 78
Darell Benoit, Belle Chasse 37-41 -- 78
Kevin Gros, Baton Rouge 38-40 -- 78
Scott Shea, Youngsville 37-41 -- 78
Mac Watts, Baton Rouge 40-38 -- 78
Todd Elkins, Zachary 41-37 -- 78
Curt Arcement, Lafayette 40-38 -- 78
Will Prather, Lafayette 37-41 -- 78
Britt Guillory, Lafayette 35-43 -- 78
Sid Harp, Donaldsonville 38-40 -- 78
Ted Teel, Bossier City 39-39 -- 78
Robert Trahan, Lafayette 38-40 -- 78
David Fulco, Shreveport 42-37 -- 79
Hunt Vaughn, Covington 38-41 -- 79
Hal Wright, Shreveport 40-39 -- 79
Charles Schilling, Lafayette 41-38 -- 79
Travis Orgeron, Sorrento 40-39 -- 79
Trey Coker, Leesville 39-40 -- 79
Ryan Gore, Bossier City 39-40 -- 79
Billy Guilbeaux, Lafayette 40-39 -- 79
Chuck Keigley, Baton Rouge 44-35 -- 79
Ben Thibeaux, Lafayette 40-40 -- 80
Kyle Chauvin, Carencro 41-39 -- 80
Bryan Hamner, Houma 42-38 -- 80
Gavin Johnson, Kenner 42-38 -- 80
Calvin Horton, Shreveport 39-41 -- 80
Herbert Schilling, Lafayette 40-40 -- 80
Charlton Holmes, Shreveport 44-36 -- 80
Dennis Cleveland, Sunset 44-36 -- 80
Brett Casey, Houma 39-41 -- 80
Jeff Hunter, Lafayette 43-37 -- 80
David Levingston, Berwick 38-42 -- 80
Ben Badeaux, Carencro 41-39 -- 80
Wesley Turner, Jefferson 44-37 -- 81
Michael Hall, Houma 40-41 -- 81
Stewart Causey, Monroe 42-39 -- 81
Gus Malespin, Milton 41-40 -- 81
Ellis Sampson, LaPlace 42-39 -- 81
Bill Dale, Lafayette 42-39 -- 81
Philip Herrington, Raceland 41-41 -- 82
Ryan Schulz, Gonzales 40-42 -- 82
Donnie Savoie, LaPlace 45-37 -- 82
Keith Breazeale, Alexandria 39-43 -- 82
Ronnie Averett, Loranger 43-39 -- 82
Jeff Richard, Lafayette 41-41 -- 82
Chuck Laudermill, Pride 41-41 -- 82
Cullen Dupuy, Baton Rouge 41-41 -- 82
Jay Turner, Shreveport 42-40 -- 82
Michael Fulco, Shreveport 39-44 -- 83
Brett Chatelain, Ponchatoula 42-41 -- 83
Ricky Parvino, Broussard 43-40 -- 83
Darrell Lakvold, Baton Rouge 40-43 -- 83
Cullen Richard, Lafayette 42-41 -- 83
Mike Ameen, Shreveport 43-40 -- 83
Don Duet, Galliano 43-40 -- 83
Dennis Shill, Baton Rouge 41-42 -- 83
Hau Nguyen, Kenner 43-40 -- 83
Tony Vicknair, Scott 41-43 -- 84
Kevin Grace, Hammond 41-43 -- 84
Travis Hebert, Carencro 43-41 -- 84
Richard Montgomery, Lafayette 44-40 -- 84
Jeff Duhon, Baton Rouge 44-40 -- 84
Jarrod Babin, Zachary 42-42 -- 84
Todd Kidder, Opelousas 43-41 -- 84
Stephen Nickel, Crowley 44-41 -- 85
Joey Dressler, Lake Charles 39-46 -- 85
Bobby Bernard, Baton Rouge 42-43 -- 85
Bobby Seaux, Lafayette 44-42 -- 86
Chad Braud, Gonzales 43-44 -- 87
Preston Fulco, Monroe 44-43 -- 87
Jason Barto, Covington 45-42 -- 87
Craig Falgout, Lafayette 45-42 -- 87
Jon Guessfeld, Madisonville 46-43 -- 89
Troy Baronet, Thibodaux 46-46 -- 92
Brian Miller, Lafayette 47-45 -- 92
Paul Broussard, Broussard 50-44 -- 94
Keith Rushing, Monroe WD
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