C.C. Barnes made an incredible nine birdies en route to a six-under-par 66 and a three-shot lead over Jay Lessley in the first round of the 2001 Beau Pr\u00E9 Club Championship Saturday at the Beau Pr\u00E9 Country Club.

Barnes had birdies on the third, sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th, 12th, 13th, 17th and 18th holes to go along with a bogey and a double bogey.

&uot;That doesn’t happen often, at least not often enough,&uot; Barnes said. &uot;It was just one of those days. The course is just in great shape. The greens are putting very true, very accurate.&uot;

Of the nine birdies he had, Barnes said his most remarkable one occurred on the 18th hole, when his second shot landed in the bunker just four inches from the lip about 40 yards from the hole. From there, he chipped to about two and a half feet from the hole. Lessley had a bogey-free first-round score of 69.

&uot;It wasn’t nothing real exciting. It was nothing flashy,&uot; Lessley said.

&uot;I hit the ball fairly decent. I didn’t make any mistakes&uot;

He then said he almost could not find his ball on the 18th hole, but did and ended up making birdie. Bill Lambert shot a two-under 70 and Corbet Edgin a one-under 71.

&uot;It was a good round. I played real solid,&uot; said Edgin, who made birdies on three of the final five holes, including one on the par-3 16th hole which nearly was a hole-in-one.

&uot;I hit a pitching wedge to within two feet,&uot; he said. &uot;I thought I had holed it.&uot;

In the Beau Pr\u00E9 Junior Championship, Lee Jones took the first-round lead in the 14-17 age division with a 79, two shots ahead of Mark Carter. &uot;Neither one of us played really well today,&uot; Jones said. &uot;I’ve got to go out and play a lot better tomorrow.&uot; Jon Davis King came back from a seven-shot deficit after 11 holes to take a two-shot lead over Jordan Farmer in the 13-and-under age division. King finished with a 93 and Farmer had a 95.

&uot;I got off to a really rough start on the front nine. I had one birdie on the front nine, which kind of helped,&uot; King said.

Tee times for today’s final round will start at 8:20 a.m.