South Burlington, VT-On an unusually windless day, Johnny Bloomfield fired a round of 6-under par 66 to shatter the Vermont National course record by two shots on the first day of the Cleveland Golf Tour’s Vermont National Open.  Justin Goodhue, Julian Trudeau, and Paul Dickinson, each of whom tied the previous course record, shot 4-under par 68’s and are just two shots back.  A slew of players sit at 3-under par, including Kyle Gallo, Jesse Smith, and Noah Zelnik.

            Bloomfield recorded seven birdies against just one bogey and believed he was ripe for a break out round. “It’s something I’ve been feeling for a long time,” he said. Bloomfield took advantage of his length off the tee and “kept hitting drivers all day long.” For the day, he played the five par 5’s in 5-under.

Goodhue, meanwhile, was just even par on the par 5’s but relied on the strength of his ball striking en route to hitting 15 of 18 greens. “This is my kind of course,” he said. “I don’t like to feel handcuffed off the tee,” obviously referring to Vermont National’s generous fairway width.

Trudeau’s round was characterized by a quick start as he notched birdies on one, three, and 6, then “kept the momentum going” on the way to making just one bogey at the difficult par three 17^th  hole.

It figures to be a highly competitive finish as 9 players are currently within four shots of the leader, including Sean O’Hair, who recently won the Vermont Open and is looking to improve upon last week’s second place finish in the first Cleveland Golf Tour event of the season.

This is one of five new venues on the Cleveland Golf Tour schedule this season and the players seem satisfied with both the layout and the challenging finish. “It’s very fair, and then all of a sudden it bites you on the closing holes,” said Gary Carpenter, who was one of 23 players to finish the first day at par or better.

Round two of the Cleveland Golf Tour’s Vermont National Open continues tomorrow. The field will be trimmed to the top 27 players and ties following the day’s play with those who advance to Sunday’s final round vying for a purse of $62,100 and a winner’s check of $11,500.