Three tied for the lead, in tough conditions at Harbour Town

On a day that saw just 23 of the 131 players break par at the Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, South Carolina. A trio of players that include Chad Campbell, Vaughn Taylor and Colt Knost, share the lead after carding opening rounds of four-under, 67.

The course was firm and fast this morning, as all the players had comments about the condition and changes made to the course recently.

The scores looked more like they typically do at a major, rather than the week after a major.

Campbell did the majority of his scoring on the front nine this morning.

The Texas native carded four birdies over his first seven holes, before giving back hi first of only two shots back to the course.

A bogey on No. 8 was book ended with birdies on No. 7 and No. 9 to make the turn in 32.

Nothing too exciting on his inward nine. A bogey on No. 10 would drop him back to three-under at the time. Though a birdie on No. 15 would see him get back to four-under.

When asked about the conditions and the firmness of the course, Campbell said, "Yeah, the greens are pretty firm.  When you're hitting chips or anything around the green it's not checking at all, and they really can get away from you. So it's pretty tough."

"I was putting a lot from around the greens.  It's kind of hard to chip and get the ball to grab.  It's definitely tough putting and tough play around the greens."

Taylor, also did the majority of his scoring on the front nine as well today. Though the Augusta, Ga. native began his day off the back-nine at Harbour Town.

Two birdies on No. 12 and No. 15 quickly got his score to two-under. Though that work was wiped clean with a double bogey on the par-four, 16th.

After a bogey on No. 1, Taylor would not yield another shot over par.

He birdied No. 2, 4 and 7 followed by an eagle on the par-five, 9th to cap off his opening round.

Taylor was also asked about the firmness of the course, after his round.

"It's very difficult," he said. "It's obviously a tough driving course.  And then if you're not on the right side of the fairway, your back is behind the wall."

"And the greens are firm and fast.  So it's tough.  You've just got to kind of grind it out.  You know you're going to miss some greens.  So you've got to do your best trying to get the ball up and down.  I fortunately did a good job of that today."

Knost, the five-year pro out of Ohio, had a much more even keeled round today in Hilton Head.

With only one bogey on the card, Knost was able to make the five birdies he carded seem like easy work, compared to the other two players tied for the lead at four-under.

Not carding a score higher than five on any hole, Knost was able to birdie holes No. 2, 6, 14, 16 and the finishing hole to end his opening round, tied for the lead with Campbell and Taylor.

With the winds dying down for the final pairings today. Knost was asked what worked for him during his opening round today.

"I just did everything really solid." Said Knost. "I drove it really good and hit quite a few greens."

"I didn't hit very many starting out, but I think I hit most all of them on the back nine, which was nice.  You have to keep it in front of you and minimize the damage and that's what I did today."

The trio of players will sleep on the 18 hole lead at Harbour Town Golf links. We'll have to wait and see how the course and conditions play out in round two.