Lake Wylie, SC – For the better part of the 2012 season, Brian Duncan of Mount Pleasant, SC felt as though his golf game was close. A number of rounds carded at 68 or 69 left much to be desired for a player who felt he was capable of going lower. On Wednesday morning at the eGolf Tour’s River Hills Classic, Duncan did just that. Ten birdies against eight pars at tournament co-host Palisades Country Club left the former Clemson golfer with a 10-under 62 and a three-shot lead through 18 holes of the 72-hole event.

The River Hills Classic is the 10th of 24 events on the 2012 eGolf Professional Tour schedule, and is being contested this week at both River Hills Country Club in Lake Wylie, SC and Palisades Country Club in Charlotte, NC.

Duncan, a conditional member of the Nationwide Tour, entered Wednesday’s opening round just four days removed from a missed cut at the BMW Charity Pro-Am. That missed cut, however, came with a third-round 67 at the venerable Thornblade Club – a closing 4-under effort that may have offered a view into his opening-round tear at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Palisades course.

Two birdies in his first seven holes put Duncan at 2-under for the day, but masked what would otherwise be a career-best round for the 28-year-old.

“It was a bit of a slow start out there today. I missed a couple of short ones early on, but didn’t really think anything of it,” Duncan said. “I two-putted No. 3 for birdie then made a good 15-footer for birdie at six, and that really got things going.”

Birdies at Nos. 8 and 9 gave Duncan a 4-under 32 on his outward nine. A par at the downhill par-3 10th gave way to a torrid stretch of golf on the closing nine at Palisades, where the Greenville, SC native put on a veritable clinic in ball-striking.

Birdies on 11, 12 and 13 – all courtesy of pinpoint iron shots – moved Duncan to 7-under on his round, and brought him to the difficult par-4 14th, where he again stuffed an approach shot.

Standing over the birdie try, however, Duncan opted to back away.

“I actually backed off a putt on 14 just to slow myself down. It felt like I was going too fast out there,” he said, prior to converting the birdie to move to 8-under. “Walking off of 15 green, I turned to (playing partner) J.T. Griffin and said ‘You guys have to loosen me up a bit here, tell some jokes or something.’”

What preceded Duncan’s need for distraction was yet another birdie, this time at the uphill par-5 15th, which capped off a stretch of five consecutive birdies.

With a more relaxed frame of mind, Duncan pared 16 and 17 before finishing off his day with a 20-foot birdie bomb at the last – arguably the longest birdie putt he left himself en route to his stunning 10-under opening round.

“I feel like a 62 has been in my artillery for a while now, I just haven’t been able to put it together,” said Duncan. “Each day I go out and shoot 3- or 4-under, it’s still not all there. It’s nice to finally get a lot out of my round.”

Duncan’s 2012 campaign has been a relative study in consistency, with five made cuts in five starts and three top-25 finishes under his belt entering the week at River Hills. A T11 finish at the Columbia Open presented by Groucho’s Deli two weeks ago was his best finish to date.

For Duncan, however, solid starts have been easy to come by this year. The 62 marked his sixth consecutive opening round of 69 or better on the eGolf Tour this season. In four 72-hole events played, he has now posted eight of nine scores over the first two rounds in the 60s, while posting just one of eight in the 60s over the closing two rounds.

“I don’t know what it is. In my two Nationwide Tour starts I opened with 76 and 75, but out here I’ve played well early,” Duncan said after his round. “Who knows what the rest of this week will bring? I might shoot 80 tomorrow.”

For Thursday’s second round, Duncan will head across scenic Lake Wylie to tournament host River Hills – a much narrower course than Palisades, and one that often calls for the driver to remain in the bag.

George Bryan IV

“It’s a different course over at River Hills, no doubt,” he said. “To be honest, I didn’t play a practice round on either, but I’ve got about 10 rounds under my belt on both, so I’ll hopefully be okay.”

George Bryan IV of Chapin, SC, Ryan Brehm of Mount Pleasant, MI, Brandon Smith of West Palm Beach, FL and Phillip Mollica of Anderson, SC are tied for second, three shots behind Duncan after posting matching rounds of 7-under 65 – all four of which fell at Palisades.

Bryan began his opening round much in the same fashion as Duncan did, with two birdies in his first seven holes to move out to a solid-yet-unspectacular start at 2-under with 11 to play.

Birdies at Nos. 9, 10 and 12 took Bryan to 5-under for the round, while late birdies at 15 and 18 helped him to seal off his day one 65. The 7-under effort marked the fifth time he posted 66 or better this year on the eGolf Tour, and the second time posting a 65 – dating back to the second round of the season-opening Palmetto Hall Championship.

For Bryan, the fast start could not have come at a better time as the 24-year-old entered the week having missed three of his past four cuts on the eGolf Tour. The last month presented itself in stark contrast to the opening portion of Bryan’s season, where the three-time NCAA “All American” made his first five cuts of the year and posted three top-20 finishes – including a career-best fourth-place finish at the Oldfield Open in February.

Ryan Brehm

Brehm, making just his third career eGolf Tour start, bogeyed the par-4 first at Palisades on Wednesday before notching birdies at No. 2, 3, 5 and 6 to quickly move to 3-under through six holes. A 3-under 33 brought Brehm to the back nine, where he added birdies at 11 and 12 to get to 5-under for the day. Birdies on 15 and 18 to close gave Brehm a first-round 65 – a career-best on the eGolf Tour.

Brehm played his college golf at Michigan State University, where he was annually ranked as one of the top players in the Big Ten. The former Spartan standout also captured the prestigious Michigan Open title in 2009 and 2010.

Smith entered the day just one week removed from his first start of the year, where rounds of 72-74—146 left him with a missed cut at the tour’s Willow Creek Open. At Palisades the 30-year-old Smith posted three birdies in his first seven holes for a 3-under 33 at the turn. On the back nine, Smith followed up a par at No. 10 with a birdie-birdie-bogey-birdie stretch from Nos. 11 through 14 that gave way to two more birdies on 16 and 17 for a 4-under 32 to close. The round marked a career-best for Smith, who had just seven prior starts on the eGolf Tour.

Phillip Mollica

Mollica, another former Clemson University standout and winner of the tour’s 2011 El Jadida Classic in Morocco, looked to be in prime form on Wednesday afternoon at Palisades, hoping to recover from a slow start to his 2012 campaign.

The long-hitting lefty played one of the more simplistic rounds of the day at Palisades, posting two eagles, three birdies and 13 pars to reach his 7-under tally. Mollica sandwiched eagles at Nos. 6 and 12 between birdies on Nos. 3, 9 and 13 to post his lowest round (to par) in his three-year eGolf Tour career.

Mollica burst onto the eGolf Tour scene in March of 2011 when he posted rounds of 69-71-71-67—278 en route to capturing the El Jadida title – the second of two events the tour contested in the country of Morocco. That win led to a stellar year for Mollica, who went on to finish sixth on the tour’s money list with earnings of $67,816.

This year, however, has been a struggle. A streak of seven missed cuts to start his year finally ended at last week’s Willow Creek Open, where one of the tour’s most talented young players finished T18. During the three-day event, Mollica posted 12 birdies and an eagle, in turn giving notice that his game was shaping up for the second half of the season.

The second round of the River Hills Classic will begin at 8:00 AM on Thursday morning, with players competing in threesomes off No. 1 at both River Hills and Palisades. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge.