Ben Silverman birdied seven of his last nine holes and scored 19 points to take the lead Thursday in the Barracuda Championship, the only DP World Tour or PGA TOUR event that uses the Modified Stableford scoring system.
Silverman had 10 birdies and a bogey on Tahoe Mountain Club's tree-lined Old Greenwood layout for a two-point lead over Kelly Kraft.
“This place is gorgeous," said Silverman, the 36-year-old Canadian seeking his first PGA TOUR victory. “Really like this golf course.”
Players receive eight points for a double eagle, five for eagle and two for birdie. A point is deducted for bogey and three for double bogey.
“You try to put the points out of your head and just focus on making birdies and adding up your score normal,” Silverman said. ”You get rewarded for birdies and the points kind of take care of themselves. That’s how you try to do it.”
Kraft eagled the par five third and had seven birdies and two bogeys.
“I was just in scoring and the guy told me what I shot, and I was like, 'I have no idea what I shot. I just know I had 17 points.'” Kraft said. “You’re kind of just trying to make birdies the whole time.”
Nate Lashley was third at 15, and Sam Ryder and S.H. Kim had 14. Lorenzo Scalise of Italy, one of 50 DP World Tour players in the field, was at 13 with Patrick Fishburn and Vince Whaley.
Scalise, who earned promotion to the DP World Tour from the Challenge Tour last year, marked his 29th birthday in fine fashion as he makes just his second start in a PGA TOUR event.
"I am very pleased," he said. "Perfect round of golf really. Only made one mistake. I hit the driver well.
"I guess it was a good birthday present to shoot 13 points, but yeah, six under is always good."
Taylor Pendrith — at No. 36, the highest-ranked player in the FedEx Cup in the field — had a 12-point round. The Canadian won at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson in May for his first PGA TOUR title.
