What everyone is playing for at La Costa this week (SCGA Twitter photo)

Four players – Thomas Hutchison (San Jose), Brad Reeves (Woodbridge), Colt McNealy (Portola Valley), and Tyler Guo (Irvine) – share the first-round lead after rounds of 3-under 69.

They got there in different ways, and none of them had a clean scorecard. Guo, a high schooler at Crean Lutheran, and Reeves, who plays at the University of Arizona, both eagled the par-5 10th hole and made four other birdies. Hutchison, who plays college golf at UC Davis, made six birdies and McNealy, younger brother of former Stanford player Maverick McNealy, made five.

Though the race for medalist honors is tight – a whopping 20 players are within 2 shots of the lead and 32 are within 3 – the real concern for everyone in the field is getting inside the top 32 who will advance to the match play stage after the second stroke play round.

And after round one, no one is safe. Even the low scorers are only three shots above the cut line of even par. In all, 68 players are within three shots of the cut line after round one.

Among those at 2-under 70 are the 1994 champion Steve Woods (Campbell, CA) who, if he were to win this week, would set the record for the longest span between California Amateur victories. Woods won the title at Pebble Beach as a 22-year-old.

If Woods does not win, then the champion will be a first-timer, as there are no other past champions in the field.

In addition to the individual competition, the North/South Challenge is being contested over the first two stroke play rounds. Six-man teams from the NCGA and SCGA are playing for the Roger Lapham Trophy, and after the first round the NCGA leads by three shots (364-367) in the best-5-scores-out-of-6 format.

Daniel Connolly and Eddy Lai led the NCGA team with 1-under 71s, while Hidetoshi Yoshihara shot the same score for the SCGA.

The stroke play qualifying features one round on the Champions Course and one on the Legends Course, after which the field will be cut to the low 32 players for match play. Given all of the players currently in contention, a playoff for the final match play spots is almost a certainty.