Palm Coast, FL (Sports Network) - Michael Letzig and Kent Jones both fired rounds of seven-under 65 on Thursday and shared first place at the Ginn sur Mer Classic.
Ryan Palmer is alone in third place at five-under 67 at The Conservatory.
The first round was suspended due to darkness. Play will resume at 8:30 a.m. (et) Friday morning and should not take long to complete. Only five golfers did not complete the round before the waning light.
Letzig first broke into red figures thanks to a birdie at the par-three third. He rattled off three straight birdies from the sixth and parred the par-five ninth to make the turn in 32.
Letzig parred his first two holes on the back nine, then netted back-to-back birdies from the 12th, including a three-footer at the par-five 13th. His birdie at 16 got him to seven-under and pars at the last two allowed him to stay atop the leaderboard.
"It was so cold this morning. I was just trying to hit greens and secure the pars," said Letzig. "But I made a really nice putt on the third hole and I made a lot of really nice putts out there today."
Letzig admitted that this week reflects a new attitude. Last week at the Frys.com Open, Letzig tied for 29th place. The $32,500 check vaulted him to 109th on the money list and with only next week's tournament remaining on the docket, essentially secured his card for next year.
"I'm very relaxed this week," said Letzig. "I secured my card last week and proved to everyone that I belong out here. And now the pressure is off and I'm kind of just keeping relaxed out there."
Jones does not have the same relaxed attitude as his fellow co-leader.
Jones is 179th on the PGA Tour money list, and is once again in the position of having to fight for his card.
"It's stressful, a little bit, being in this position," admitted Jones. "This year not so much so because I am so far back. I think when you are right around the bubble every week it takes more of a toll, especially in the Fall Series now.
"It seems every week those are the people everyone wants to talk to and so everyone is always bringing it up. Everyone's bringing it up and wants to talk to those guys so it's hard to get it out of your mind and just play golf and that's what you have to do."
Jones birdied the par-four second and got to two-under thanks to a birdie at No. 8. He played brilliantly at the start of the second nine with three birdies in a four-hole span.
At the par-four 16th, Jones knocked his approach to four feet and he converted to reach six-under. Two holes later, at the par-five last, Jones sank a seven- footer to join Letzig in first.
"Obviously, I am very happy with my round. I played very solid," said Jones. "I hit the ball really solid. I think I missed one green and putted great. I kept the ball in play."
Last week's Frys.com Open winner Cameron Beckman, Tom Scherrer, James Driscoll and Robert Allenby are knotted in fourth place at four-under 68.
Vaughn Taylor, Mathias Gronberg, Nick O'Hern and Chris Stroud share eighth place at minus-three.
Thursday's first round was not a great start to Daniel Chopra's title defense. He struggled to a nine-over 81 and is tied for dead-last place with Nathan Green.