Clay Uselton fell in love with Black Creek the first time he laid eyes on the course. If his exploits in the first round of the Tennessee Mid-Amateur on Tuesday are any indication, his feelings toward the course won't change any time soon.

Uselton made nine birdies en route to a five-under-par 67, tying him for the top spot with newly reinstated amateur Packard DeWitt of Memphis. If DeWitt equals or improves upon his four-birdie, one-eagle first-round performance the next two days, he might be next in line behind Uselton, who is seriously considering becoming a member at Black Creek.

"I love this place," DeWitt said. "We don't have mountains like this in Memphis. It's gorgeous."

Uselton had similar feelings for Black Creek the first time he teed it up there, in the 2001 Tennessee Four-Ball Championship.

"I like the course a lot," said Uselton, who lives in Tullahoma. "If you hit the ball well, you're going to score well. If you don't hit the ball well, you can have some trouble. It's a fair golf course. I love the risk-reward holes."

Uselton had all the risk and reward he could handle on Tuesday. He racked up birdies—five on the front, four on the back—and also tossed in a double-bogey at the difficult, par-4 12^th hole.

Uselton credits his experience at Black Creek with teaching him the way to play the course.

"When I first played out here, I was very conservative," said Uselton, who runs a several-hundred-employee photo finishing lab in Tullahoma. "Then I realized there were a ton of birdie holes out here. I decided I've got to attack the golf course if I was driving the ball well."

Suffice to say Uselton drove the ball well on Tuesday. His only problems came when he was just shy of the short grass, underscoring his point about good shots being rewarded and errant ones being penalized. It's a fine line at Black Creek. Uselton's drive into the fairway bunker at the par-5 No. 6 hole led to a bogey, as did a wayward 3-wood off the tee at No. 9. His only miscue on the back nine came at No. 12, but when you make nine birdies, that tends to ease the sting of a dub.

DeWitt's round had significantly fewer highs and lows. He didn't make a bogey until the par-5 18^th hole, which he three-putted from about 18 feet. Before that, he made birdies at Nos. 4, 7, 10 and 16 and an eagle at the par-5 14^th after lashing a driver and 6-iron to about a foot of the hole.

"It was a lot of fun out there today," DeWitt said. "I hit 17 greens in regulation, but that's usually the way I play. I hit 15- to 16 greens a round, and usually give myself a chance to make birdies."

DeWitt has an interesting background in the game. He played golf for the University of Arkansas, where one of his teammates was none other than John Daly. "Oh, the stories I could tell," DeWitt said.

DeWitt left Arkansas in 1988, played the U.S. Amateur that year at the Cascades in West Virginia and then promptly turned pro. He toiled on the mini tours for four years until returning to Memphis to enter private business. DeWitt—who played in the PGA Tour's Memphis tournament in 1995 and 1998—didn't seek to regain his amateur status until 2000, when the lure of TGA and USGA events was too strong.

Thus far, DeWitt's career highlight has been playing in the 1994 U.S. Open at Oakmont (his e-mail address even includes "Oakmont94.") One of the reasons he regained his amateur status was to try and experience the thrill of playing in another major championship. The mini-tours were not exactly a springboard to same.

"My main focus is to try to win the national mid-amateur," DeWitt said. "If you win that tournament, you get a shot at the Masters. Lofty goals? Maybe. But I just can't forget the thrill of playing in the Open. I'd love to experience that feeling again in a major championship."

There's precedent for what DeWitt's trying to get done. He need only look behind him on the leaderboard, where the two most decorated mid-amateurs in the state are lurking. Danny Green of Jackson is one shot behind the leaders after a 4-under-par 68. He's played in the Masters twice, having finished runner-up in the U.S. Amateur and won the U.S. Mid-Amateur. Tim Jackson, a two-time U.S. Mid-Amateur winner and Masters participant, shot 69.

Aon Miller of Lookout Mountain matched Jackson's 69 and was low Chattanooga-area player. Miller's round included four birdies, at Nos. 5, 9, 10 and 12. His lone bogey came at the par-4 13^th. "It was the only green I missed," Miller said. "I struck the ball pretty well today."

Miller hasn't played Black Creek since the Men's Metro last July, but his prior experience came in handy. "I've played it probably five times," Miller said. "The difference between playing it five times and just once is huge."

Chattanooga's Richard Keene was a shot behind Miller and Jackson after a 2-under-par 70. Next in line among local players were Tom Schreiner and Pat Corey, who matched par with 72s.

The 144-player field was cut in half after Tuesday's round and will be trimmed in half again after Wednesday's play. The 54-hole tournament concludes on Thursday.