Robert Funk, who won the individual title in 2006, and David Bartman, who won the previous year, fired a 6-under-par 66 at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Dunes Course and sit atop the leaderboard with Joe Sanders and Ryan Mitchell.

Funk and Bartman are quite familiar with playing together, recently winning the 2007 Southern California Foursomes Championship.

Sanders and Mitchell are both from Incline Village, Nevada.

Lurking in second place at 5-under is the duo of John Pigg and Eddie Lyons which has won this event four times (1983, ’84, ’89, 2004).

The pair first met as business partners in 1980, and joined forces regularly since.

"We ham and egg pretty good, pick each other up with a birdie or a par, we made one bogey the whole day," said Pigg. "After a round of golf you always feel that you left something out there, and we feel like we left about four shots out there.

"But the golf course is in great shape, and those greens, they can make them as tough as they want to make them."

Reigning champions Chris Kessler and Trent Brown (who is also the current Trans-Miss individual champ) are still very much in the hunt at 3-under 69.

In the senior division, Roger Brown (Trent’s father) a member of the Trans-Miss Board of Directors, ripped off seven birdies to lead him and teammate Bill Heldmar to a 7-under-par 65, good for a four-stroke lead. Heldmar did save his teammate from making bogey on a few occasions, but noted after the incredible round that he was largely along for the ride.

Be sure to check back with amateurgolf.com tomorrow for second round scores, and Friday morning for a video wrap-up of the tourney.

Full scores follow:

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