Former champion Patrick Cover was the leader after the first round of the 55th Jamaica Golf Association Open at Tryall Club after shooting an eight under par 64 on the first day that was affected by rain.

Cover, the 2019 champion, holds a four-shot lead over the rest of the field coming into the second day of the 54 holes, three-day championships, with Jamaican professional Wesley Brown in third place on three under 69 after being six under at one point.

Jamaica’s Justin Burrowes was in a three-way tie for the lead in the amateurs after shooting four over par 76.

The organisers were forced to call a 45-minute break in play in the morning period due to continuous rain and this resulted in play going later in the day than scheduled, but the weather is expected to cooperate over the final two days.

Cover, the 26 year-old North Carolina native, had a great round and was bogey free the entire day, leading his compatriot who shot a four under par 68, followed by Brown and defending champion Michael Maguire both on three under.

Canadian Etienne Papineau and American Brady Schnell were tied on two under par 70.

Cover told the Jamaica Observer that the key to his good round was his putting.

“The round was great, stress free, with no long putts for par,” he said. “I was just tapping in, but I putted really well, I made a ton of putts from 10 to 15 feet.”

Cover, who ended his round with back-to-back birdies on the 17th and 18th holes, admitted the rain might have helped.

“The course played longer as the entire course was softer,” he said, “but I am not sure it made it easier, just different,”

He says his plans for the second day was “to do the same thing. I will try to keep it bogey free and go from there”.

Brown, who was in the first group to tee off under cloudy conditions at 7:00 am yesterday, played his best front nine ever at a Jamaica Open, shooting five under par.

“My round was good,” he said. “I wish I held my six under par coming in, but three under is not a bad start for the first day.”

He says he might have got lucky with the draw.

“I have always been behind the eight ball coming in, but today, at this tournament, this year, I am in a good position so far. I don’t know what the other scores are going to be, but if you go for your ball and put yourself in a good position, you can go low here as it is soft and everything is sticking. It’s just solid contact, make a few putts and you are a few under par.”

Brown, who finished his round just after midday yesterday, told the Observer he expected a few others to come in with low scores.

“I expect to be right at the top,” he said.

While he said he did not always like playing too early, this time was different.

“I got the fresh greens this morning going out early, and we were through nine holes when the rains came and play was delayed. I was happy for that. I normally don’t like going out first, but today was my luck.”