NATCHEZ &045; The first round of the 30th annual Harvest Club Open at the Duncan Park Golf Course on Saturday was quite a struggle for many of this year’s 113 participants.

While over a third of the players had rounds of 90 or worse, Terry Pierce of Baton Rouge and Jerry Scales of Memphis, Tenn., managed to battle wind gusts of over 20 miles per hour and finish tied for the lead at even-par 71.

Pierce is in a familiar position &045; at the top of the leaderboad, but not by himself like he was last year. One year ago, Pierce was in first place in the championship flight with a 73 going into Sunday’s final round. But he struggled in the final round and his 76 took him out of contention.

&uot;I’m looking forward to better ball-striking that I did a year ago,&uot; Pierce said. &uot;Last year I was unfamiliar with the course. I came out here two weeks ago Monday. I got a practice round with Eddie West and company.&uot;

Pierce had six birdies on the day, yet two birdies and two double bogeys kept him from having an even better round.

&uot;I made bad swings on a couple of holes,&uot; Pierce said. &uot;Other than that I did well. You’ve gotta keep the ball below the hole.&uot;

Pierce birdied No. 1, a par-4 hole, No. 2 (the par-5 fifth hole), No. 7 (the par-5 10th), No. 11 (the par-5 14th), No. 16 (the par-4 third) and No. 18 (the par-4 second). He bogeyed No. 5 (the par-5 eighth) and No. 12 (the par-3 15th). He double-bogeyed No. 14 (the par-4 17th) and No. 17 (the par-4 fourth).

Scales ended up with birdies on No. 7 (Old No. 10), No.9 (the par-4 12th), No. 13 (the par-4 16th) and No. 18 (Old No. 2)

One shot back at 1-over 72 is Willie Richardson of Jackson, who had a birdie at No. 11 (Old No. 14) and bogeys on No. 13 (Old No. 16) and No. 15 (the par-4 18th).

&uot;I got lucky,&uot; Richardson said. &uot;I kept the ball in play. Didn’t make a lot of birdies, but I made a lot of pars. The only thing that saved me was I kept it in play. This is one of my best first rounds I’ve ever had. The wind was a factor. It was swirling.&uot;

Morris Hughes, also from Memphis, is in fourth place after firing a round of 2-over 73. His round was helped by birdies on No. 8 (the par-4 11th) and No. 9 (Old No. 12).