Brown's 62 lights up Rex Open

RALEIGH -- Scott Brown and Stephen Poole are road roommates on the Nationwide Tour and had plenty to talk about Thursday night at the Hyatt Place.

Poole shot a 7-under-par 64 in the opening round of the Rex Hospital Open - and wasn't even low man in the room, much less the tournament. Brown, among the early starters Thursday, had a 9-under 62 and a two-shot lead, tying the tournament record for TPC Wakefield.

"I guess I've got to sleep on the couch," Poole said, smiling.

Between the two, their best ball would have been a 58. Brown, who played college golf at USC-Aiken, had seven birdies and an eagle. Poole, a former Clemson golfer, churned out seven birdies on a picture-perfect day - sunny and dry.

Poole, 27, had missed the cut in seven of eight tournaments this year and broken 70 just twice. That meant Brown, 26, often has had the hotel room to himself after the second round.

"It means he gets stuck with the bill on the weekend," Poole joked. "He's kind of used to it."

Poole may be around all week, though. And like the rest of the Rex field, he will be chasing Brown today.

Poole, who missed an 18-footer for birdie at the 18th, had the only 64. Former Georgia All-America Chris Kirk and Troy Kelly had 65s as 81 players broke par Thursday.

Amateur Grayson Murray, the 16-year-old Leesville Road High sophomore, eagled the fourth hole of his round to go 1-under early but closed with a 2-over 73.

"I was a little nervous to start with, and I had a couple of miscues coming in," Murray said. "It was a little nerve-wracking, but I had so much fun out there."

Kirk, who helped lead Georgia to the 2005 NCAA championship, bears watching. He's fourth on the Nationwide money list. He came to the Rex off a second-place finish last week in the BMW Charity Pro-Am in South Carolina.

Kevin Chappell, a former NCAA champion at UCLA and the tour's leading money-winner, opened with a 69.

Brown, 50th in money this year, admits to being a neat freak, even to the point of being obsessive/compulsive.

"I like everything tidy," he said.

That was a pretty good description of his scorecard, which had 10 3s and a 2. His 62 matched the TPC Wakefield mark set in 2003 by Rob Bradley in 2003.

"Just one of those days," said Brown, an Augusta, Ga., native. "Your bad shots turn out good, and your putts go in.

"It was just a fun day. I felt like I had total control of the golf ball, to be honest. It doesn't happen very often, when you get those days. You feel like you can do no wrong."

Poole played the eGolf Tour from 2006 to 2009 and was the 29th Nationwide qualifier out of the PGA Tour's Qualifying Tournament last year. He cashed his only check - for $2,605 - by tying for 44th in the Moonah Classic but has stayed positive.

"It's kind of been coming for a long time," he said of his low score. "I've been hitting it well almost every week but not making the putts I need to make.

"I just tried to stay patient each week and know that at some point it's going to break. Today, it finally did."

And he still couldn't beat his roomie.