Home comforts for David Riley, Seamus Power starts solidly at Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi

Mississippi native Davis Riley shot a bogey-free, six-under-par 66 to earn a share of the first-round lead at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson.

Riley and Will Gordon set the early pace ahead of seven players one stroke behind them at five-under.

Riley, 25, started off hot with four birdies over the first seven holes at the Country Club of Jackson. He added two more at 15 and 16, the latter an18-foot putt, his longest of the day.

"I didn't have the best day with my driver, but when I did hit the fairway, I felt like I gave myself a really good opportunity to hit some nice approache sin there," he said.

Waterford man Seamus Power is five shots behind the leader after a one-under 71. Power was two under thru 8 but had slipped back to level par before a birdie on 16.

Riley's best showing on the PGA Tour was a second-place finish at last year's Valspar Championship.

There is added pressure to win his home-state event. The Hattiesburg native called the tournament "my fifth major" earlier this week.

"I think that's probably why I haven't played my best golf here in the past just because it's right down the road," Riley said. "I have so many friends and family here. I want to perform. It just would be a really, really special tournament to win."

Gordon finished the day with seven birdies and just one bogey. He made a latemove up the leaderboard at the end of the afternoon with birdies at Nos. 14,15 and 17 to tie Riley.

Tied at 67 were Americans Andrew Putnam, Brandon Matthews, Mark Hubbard, TrevorCone, Taiwan's Kevin Yu, South Africa's Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Belgium's Thomas Detry.

Kevin Roy, Nick Taylor of Canada, S.H. Kim of South Korea and Russell Knox of Scotland were tied for 10th at four-under. Defending champion Sam