ESPN Golf

RENO, Nev. -- Will MacKenzie tied a PGA Tour record with three eagles in the same round -- one with a 52-foot putt and another after a 293-yard approach to within 8 feet -- for a 9-under-par 63 and a one-stroke lead over Bob Estes Thursday in the first round of the Reno-Tahoe Open.

Estes holed out from 86 yards for an eagle and added seven birdies for his 64 and Rich Beem celebrated his 36th birthday with some hot putting and a lucky bounce off a rock in a creek to shoot 66 along with 2001 Reno-Tahoe champ John Cook, Nick Watney and Australian David McKenzie.

MacKenzie's 63, a career best in his second year on the PGA Tour, set a record for the lowest first round at the 7,472-yard Montreux Golf and Country Club Course and tied the record of three eagles for the entire tournament.

No player has ever had more than three eagles in one round in PGA Tour history. Arjun Atwal (Buick Invitational), Bubba Watson (Zurick Classic of New Orleans) and Jason Gore (John Deere Classic) each turned the trick earlier this year.

"I've probably had two eagles, but not three" in the same round, said the 31-year-old native of Greenville, N.C., who ranks 179th on the money list with $197,158.

"I was just hitting it pretty much wherever I wanted to the whole day and had great speed on the greens," said MacKenzie, who closed his round with the 8-foot eagle putt on the 616-yard, par-5 ninth. The 52-footer and a 15-footer for eagle also came on par 5s.

"I'm putting with a claw [grip] now and that's probably why I shot 63. I switched the grip because I'm about 180th on the tour in putting and that's my problem," he said. "I've got a lot of confidence now that I've switched grips. I actually believe I'm going to make putts now."

Estes, a 19-year tour veteran who claimed the last of his four career wins at the Kemper Insurance Open in 2002, played his first eight holes 5 under thanks to the eagle from the fairway on the 636-yard, par-5 17th.

Knocking his irons close all day, his longest birdie putt was 13 feet and the only blemish on his scorecard a bogey on the par-4 third.

"I've played well in stretches the last couple of months, so I knew I could potentially put something together, and that's what I did today," said Estes, 40, who has four top-25 finishes this year, including second at the Shell Houston Open. "I don't expect to shoot 8 under every day, but I know I can do it."

Beem, the winner of the PGA Championship in 2002, birdied five of the first seven holes then got the lucky break on the par-4 eighth before adding a fifth birdie on the ninth to get to 6-under 30 on the front nine.

"I hit the ball extremely well today but I putted even better," said Beem, who has four top-25 finishes this year. He pulled his drive left toward a creek on the 464-yard eighth, the signature hole on the Jack Nicklaus-designed mountain course with a 100-foot elevation drop from tee to green.

"For sure it was going to go in the creek but it hit a rock and kicked down to about 125 yards from the hole in the fairway. It was unbelievable. But hey, when it's your day, it's your day," said Beem, who had only 25 putts en route to his lowest tournament round ever on his birthday.

Cook, who won at Reno in 2001 with an 8-under 64 on Sunday for his 11th and most recent career tour victory, had four birdies on the front nine then made a 60-foot birdie putt on the two-tiered green at the 186-yard, par-3 12th.

"It was about a 12-foot break and it was going really hard," he said. "It was one of those where you just thank your lucky stars."

Watney bogeyed his first hole but had seven birdies, including one with a shot out of a deep greenside bunker that stopped 2 feet from the hole.

"It's nothing worth getting too excited about yet, but it's a good start and I'm really happy," said Watney, 25, who has seven top-25 finishes this year, including a tie for seventh at the AT&T Pebble Beach.

McKenzie, who won a Nationwide Tour event last year but is a PGA rookie at age 39, had six birdies and no bogeys to join the group at 66.

Craig Barlow of Henderson, Alex Cejka of Las Vegas and Pat Perez were another shot back at 67 and 19-year-old Australian Jason Day was in a group of six golfers at 68.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press