Egg Harbor Township, NJ (June 27th)---Rain fell, scores rose and only
four players broke par during Monday’s weather-plagued first round of
the inaugural Atlantic City Hilton Classic at Twisted Dune Golf Club.
Matt Doyle and Reggie Bergholtz share the lead after posting identical
3-under 69s. Veterans Billy Downes and Jeff Dantas sit one shot back at
2-under.

Eighteen players have yet to finish their first round, which will resume
at 6:30 am Tuesday morning. The second round will begin at 7:15 am. The
first round scoring average of 78.08 was the highest on Tour since the
2003 season.

Doyle, who teed off before the worst of the rain fell, took advantage of
his early starting time, tallying birdies on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th
holes. He then offset two bogeys on the 7th and 18th holes with birdies
on the back nine par 5s, the 10th and 12th. Despite the trying
conditions, Doyle stayed poised by calling upon his experience in an
equally trying environment.

“I work in a restaurant a lot,” said Doyle, “and it gets really busy and
crazy and people start freaking out, so I was like, ‘this is just like
dealing with a crazy night in the restaurant.’”

While Doyle started with flourish and played steadily until reaching the
clubhouse, Bergholtz’s round featured a steady dose of ups and downs
from the first tee until the final green.

At the par-4 1st, Bergholtz stuffed his approach to 3-feet, but missed
the putt. He rebounded quickly with a 50-foot putt for birdie on the
3rd then narrowly escaped the difficult par-5 9th hole with a 35-foot
putt for par after visiting thigh-high heather grass.

He, like Doyle, birdied both of the back nine par 5’s, but failed to
capitalize on a brilliant approach on the par-3 13th, missing a 3-foot
putt for birdie. He then completed his whirlwind tour of the
links-style Twisted Dune layout with a 20-foot birdie putt on the
486-yard 18th hole, one of just two birdies on that hole in day one.

“I’m not going to complain with a 69 in this weather,” said Bergholtz,
whose best finish is a tie for 8th in two career starts on Tour.

With three top 10s in his last three events, Billy Downes is used to
lurking near the lead. He has also grown accustomed to the rain during
a soggy June.

“I’m used to sloshing it,” said Downes, who already bagged one victory
this year at the Western Ma. Open in May.

This week's field of 100 is the second largest in Tour history. The
field will be trimmed to the low 38 and ties following the completion
of round two. The purse of $86,400 includes a $13,000 winner's share.