Australia's Mathew Goggin is three shots off the pace after the opening round of the Web.com Tour event at Sycamore Hills Golf Club.
Goggin fired a three-under-par 69 to be in joint 16th spot as leaders Tommy Gainey and Argentina's Emiliano Grillo seized the early initiative.
Gainey, coming off a third-place finish in the regular-season finale in Portland, Oregon, had an eagle, six birdies and two bogeys.
"I made a lot of putts today," Gainey said. "I've been hitting it good for a while now, but was able to make some putts on the last day in Portland and carried it over to today."
Grillo had six birdies in a bogey-free round.
"There's no wind out there," Grillo said. "The conditions were perfect out there today so there was no reason not to play well."
The four-event series features the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour money list and Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup standings.
The top 25 players on Web.com regular-season money list earned 2015-16 PGA Tour cards.
They are competing against each other for PGA Tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals and the final leader getting a spot in The Players Championship.
The other players are fighting for another 25 cards based on their earnings in the series.
Jamie Lovemark, DH Lee, Ricky Barnes, Brice Garnett, Adam Long, Ryan Armour and Brett Stegmaier were tied for second at 67.
Lovemark and Lee have secured PGA Tour cards with top-25 finishes on the Web.com Tour money list. Lovemark was 12th. Lee, from South Korea, was 15th.
India's Anirban Lahiri, a member of the International Presidents Cup team, had a 69.
"I think I hit it decent, but I wasn't very good off the tee," Lahiri said.
Melburnian Steve Allan shot a one-under-par 71 to be joint 51st with compatriots Rod Pampling, Cameron Percy and Oliver Goss finishing even par.
Rhein Gibson, Aaron Baddeley and Stuart Appleby carded two-over par 74s but Greg Chalmers (75) and Robert Allenby (76) are further back and all will need to produce something special to make the cut.
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