63 leads the way at the Greater Cedar Rapids Open golf tournament

MARION - As fate would have it, Ryan Argotsinger was playing golf again in Eastern Iowa after all.

The former UNI golfer - who transferred to Southern Mississippi in 2013 after his freshman year - birdied 10 of 18 holes and claimed a two-shot lead after the first round of the Greater Cedar Rapids Open golf tournament Thursday at Hunters Ridge Golf Course.

'When I birdied nine through 12, that kind of got me going,” said Argotsinger, who finished nine shots below par with a first-round score of 63. 'I knew then that I just needed to try to get it as deep as I could.”

Argotsinger, 23, is competing in just his third event as a professional following his May graduation from Southern Mississippi with a master's degree. He finished 21st at the Metropolitan Open Championship in St. Louis last month, then missed the cut last weekend at the Waterloo Open, which was just down the road from his first collegiate home in Cedar Falls.

'It was nice, I really liked it up there,” said Argotsinger, a native of Lee's Summit, Mo. 'I wish it didn't get so cold in the winter. … That's the reason I went down south, to play year round and give myself an opportunity to get better at golf.”

Wes Gosselin, Emerson Newsome and David Rose are tied for second at 66.

Independence native Chris Black is clustered among seven golfers who are four shots behind Argotsinger.

A dozen golfers posted a 4-under par score of 68, which leaves them tied for 13th with two rounds to go. Former University of Iowa golfers Carson Schaake and Nate Yankovich are included in the group, as are last weekend's Waterloo Open champion Austin Quick, 2015 GCRO winner Paul Apyan and Waterloo Open runner-up Zach Wright.

'You can't really worry about what other people are doing,” Wright said. 'You see the scores, but it doesn't help looking at scores. You have to go out there and do it yourself. You just go out there and shoot the best round you can and see what it ends up at the end.”

A Florida resident and 2016 graduate of Louisiana State University, Wright is feeling at home in his second-consecutive pro event in Eastern Iowa. His parents relocated to the area over two years ago from Arizona after his father, Don, took a position with Rockwell Collins.

'With pro golf, it can get lonely at times with travel,” Wright said. 'It's been nice just to be here with my parents. They have come out and watched every round so far. They're supporting me, and it's been nice just to feel like I'm at home.”

Former Cedar Rapids Kennedy and Drake golfer Dane Worley withdrew before play began with a sore shoulder.

Scott Pieri oitpaced the senior professional field with a 7-under par 65,

The second round tees off Friday at 7:05 a.m.

GREATER CEDAR RAPIDS OPEN

At Marion

(Hunters Ridge G.C., par 72)

FIRST ROUND

1. Ryan Argotsinger 63

2. Scott Pieri 65

T3. Wes Gosselin 66

T3. Emerson Newsome 66

T3. David Rose 66

T6. Chris Black 67

T6. Grant Leaver 67

T6. Michael Davan 67

T6. Brian Richey 67

T6. Luke McClellan 67

T6. Andrew Steinhofer 67

T6. David Cooke 67

T13. Matt Lee 68

T13. Paul Apyan 68

T13. Jared Bettcher 68

T13. William Bruyeres (a) 68

T13. Sean Busch 68

T13. Peter Creighton 68

T13. Nate Yankovich 68

T13. Spence Fulford 68

T13. Zach Wright 68

T13. Carson Schaake 68

T13. Clay Devers 68

T13. Anthony Maccaglia 68

T25. Craig Isabel 69

T25. Josh Butterfield 69

T25. Michael Balcar 69

T25. Brandon Crick 69

T25. Britt Pavelonis 69

T25. Brian Coe 69

T25. Nathan Stamey 69

T25. Brett Walker 69

T25. Tim Crouch 69

T25. Michael Cromie 69

T25. Austin Quick 69

T25. Casey Fernandez 69

T25. Luke Vivolo 69

T25. Kyle Kochevar 69

T39. Jay Monahan 70

T39. Steve Friesen 70

T39. Derek Lamely 70

T39. Zach Gaugert 70

T39. David Tepe 70

T39. McCormick Clouser 70

T39. Mitchell Homb 70

T39. Korey Smith 70

T39. Matt Mankin 70

T39. Bobby Taggart 70

T39. Hunter O'Mahony 70

T39. Cody Stang 70

T39. Nicholas Grubnich 70

T39. Andy Winings 70

T39. Greg O'Mahony 70

T39. Edward Olson 70

T55. Brad Hopfinger 71

T55. Austin Jordan 71

T55. Kevin Ault (a) 71

T55. Kurt Slattery 71

T55. Steven Ihm 71

T55. Zachary Hammerberg 71

T55. Richard Hearden 71

T55. Calvin Freeman 71

T55. Michael Keller 71

T55. Richie Schembechler 71

T55. Ben Wollam 71

T66. Luke Slaymaker 72

T66. Jordan Elsen 72

T66. Jake Byrum 72

T66. Conner Godsey 72

T66. Ian Boat 72

T66. Joshua Udelhofen 72

T66. James Hall 72

T66. Justin Metzger 72

T66. Kevin Flack 72

T66. Matthew Jennings 72

T66. Chris French 72

T66. Jon Jozefowski 72

T66. Ryan Pierson 72

T66. Jeffery Kellen 72

T66. Gary Hallberg 72

T66. Eric Steger 72

T66. Ian Johston (a) 72

T83. Travis Kreiter 73

T83. Jacob O'Keefe 73

T83. Eddie Doyle (a) 73

T83. Cole Willcox 73

T83. Donald Constable 73

T83. Blanton Farmer 73

T83. Jeff Evanier 73

T83. Travis England 73

T83. Jake Tucker 73

T83. Brian Bullington 73

T83. Adam Babb 73

T94. Cole Yearling (a) 74

T94. Joshua Manske 74

T94. Brad Karpick (a) 74

T94. Ryan Schrimper 74

T94. Tyler Smith 74

T94. Jake Sevcik (a) 74

T94. Joseph Juszczyk 74

T94. Jonathan Fly 74

T94. Brett Porter 74

T103. Max Thrune (a) 75

T103. Zack Wax 75

T103. Tim Owers 75

T103. Ryan Sperry 75

T103. Alex Blickle 75

T103. David Narveson 75

T103. Justin Regier 75

T103. Kyle Driscoll 75

T103. Brad Benjamin 75

T103. Chuck Moran 75

T103. Jonathan Tink 75

T103. Taylor Koser 75

T103. Matt Fry 75

T103. JD Goodfellow (a) 75

T103. Collin Neeman 75

T103. Brent Quade 75

T103. Andy Buege 75

T103. Charles Hahn 75

T121. Logan Holt 76

T121. Weston Payne 76

T121. Michael Greene 76

T124. Erik Hallberg 77

T124. James Tisdale 77

T124. Nile Happel (a) 77

T124. Andrew Wood (a) 77

T124. Jordan Even (a) 77

T129. Matt Junge (a) 78

T129. JD Schlotterback 78

T129. Tim Tynan 78

T129. Rob Dickerman (a) 78

T129. Kyle Thomas 78

T129. Spencer Mellon 78

T135. Marshall Gavre 79

T135. Robb Taylor 79

T135. Jonah Beman (a) 79

T135. Brent Larson (a) 79

T139. Michael Dominick 80

T139. Pedro Velasco Curto (a) 80

T141. Jack Recker (a) 81

T141. Blake Jens 81

143. Marc Woodcock 83

144. Brian Schiltz (a) 84

145. Mark Lemon 85

146. Matt Roling (a) 87

T147. Carter Fredrickson (a) 90

T147. Jordan Caviness (a) 90

149. Dan Bailey (a) 91

150. Jeremy Jennissen (a) 96

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com