Before Matt Robertson and Brandon Cissom teed off in stroke play qualifying for the Chattanooga TPC at Council Fire on Thursday, Robertson asked a question of his good friend and frequent playing partner.

“I asked him if he’d been to art school,” Robertson said.

What?

“So he knew his shapes,” Robertson said.

“Yeah, Cissom said. “He told me I’d better get ready to be drawing a lot of circles and squares.”

That’s circles and squares as in birdies and bogeys, and a typical Robertson round of golf has several of each on his scorecard.

“I’m always trying to make birdies,” Robertson said. “I’m not very good at playing it safe.”

That approach can often lead to a square or two or three, but Robertson can live with it.

“I’d rather make nine birdies and nine bogeys than 18 pars,” he said. “At least that’s not boring. It keeps your interest up.”

Robertson’s interest was piqued on Thursday. In shooting a 3-under-par 69, a score matched by Cissom, he racked up six birdies and three bogeys.

Three of those birdies came during a blistering stretch late in the back nine, at 15, 16 and 17.

“All of a sudden I just started hitting it close,” Robertson said.

Indeed. He knocked an 8-iron to four-and-a-half feet at No. 15, and spun a pitching wedge from 15 feet to a foot-and-a-half on 16. His tee shot at the par-3 17^th landed about 16 feet left of the hole, but when Robertson stood over his putt, a familiar feeling came over him.

“It was one of those putts where you just see a line going straight to the hole,” Robertson said. “Kind of like a Tiger Woods video game.”

“When he says he sees that line, watch out,” Cissom said. “He usually makes it.”

Robertson did drain that putt, taking him to 3-under for the day.

Cissom makes his fair share of birdies, but he considers himself a tad more conservative than his buddy. “Sometimes, par is a good score,” he said.

Still, Cissom loves those circles on his scorecard, too. He made three birdies on the day, at No. 2, 5 and 17, and he had a coveted double circle, too—an eagle 3 at the par-5 13^th.

After pounding a drive, Cissom had 205 yards to the flag. He pulled out a 5-iron and wasn’t thinking about doing anything crazy.

“I was just trying to keep it right of the water,” Cissom said.

He reached the green in two but was about 30 feet away for eagle. Fortunately, the hole got in the way of his aggressive putt. “It was really moving,” Cissom said. “It just kind of dove right into the hole.”

After that, Cissom played conservatively. Even his final birdie, at No. 17, didn’t involve much risk. And he was fortunate to be on Robertson’s line. After watching Robertson’s putt roll into the hole, Cissom had a good idea of what he needed to do.

In Friday’s first round of match play, Cissom earned the No. 1 seed. He’ll play No. 16 seeded Pat Corey.

Robertson, at No. 2, will play 15^th-seeded Jay Potter.  Potter and Corey earned the final two berths into match play in a playoff over Walt Moffitt.

Only two other players broke par on a day when Council Fire’s greens were rolling fast and true and the pin placements were challenging. Brendon Wilson shot a 70 to earn the No. 3 seed. He’ll play Winston Brown on Friday.

Jimmy White shot 71 to claim the fourth seed. He faces Jacob Clark in a first-round match.

Stroke Play Qualifying

Chattanooga TPC

Council Fire

69—Brandon Cissom, Matt Robertson.

70—Brendon Wilson.

71—Jimmy White III.

72—Bob Rice.

73—Gary Baker, Tim Crawford, Tom Schreiner.

74—Mitch Hufstetler, Sam Bedwell, Jacob Clark, Chris Schmidt, Richard Spangler.

76—Winston Brown.

77—Walt Moffitt, Jay Potter, Pat Corey.

78—Randy Yoder, Mike Craig.

79—Rusty Pickett

80—Logan Killen, Larry McGill.

81—Wayne Woolfall

82—Caleb Roberson

85—John Lambert