RAPID CITY - Parker senior Austin Olson shot 74 to take the first day lead in a very blustery boys Class B golf tournament at The Elks Golf Course in Rapid City.

The key to Olson's excellent round in windy conditions, that gave many golfers fits, was balance as he recorded 37's on both the front and back nines, a remarkable feat given the large discrepancy seen on many scorecards between the two nines.

A number of excellent rounds begun on the front ballooned considerably on the more open homeward nine. The 37-45 round turned in by Rocky Van Zee of Platte Geddes was not atypical.

Sophomore Carson Moore of Jones County is in second place along with Ryan Varilek of Scotland each recording a 77. Moore steadied himself after a poor start - five over after five holes - by catching fire on the back with an eagle on 11 and a birdie on 12.

"My putting was the best part of my game today," said Moore. "I made a lot of 10-footers."

Garretson senior Shea Stoltenberg, who finished third in last year's state tournament fashioned a 78 to move him into the third spot on the leader board though a double bogey on 18, the result of a windblown tee shot out of bounds left a bad taste in his mouth.

"I made a bad decision and paid for it," he said diplomatically.

Brian Duxbury, of McCook Central, is in fourth with a round of 80 and two Avon golfers, Mykel Glowcheski and Earv Archambeau, hold down the fifth spot posting matching 81s. Six golfers posted 82s starting with Kimball's Doug Thomson, Platee-Geddes' Rocky Van Zee-Miller's Grant Rediger, Freeman's Josh Korn, Sully Buttes' Spencer Yackley and Avon's Adam Oster.

Though Olson, Moore and Stoltenberg have a slight cushion over the pack of pursuers, anything is possible; particularly if the wind stays up or someone comes out quickly. The course under normal conditions lends itself to the possibility of low scores for this caliber of player.

Though the weather forecast calls for lighter winds today, believers were hard to find today. The popular refrain was "just another windy day of golf in South Dakota." And though the pin placements were mostly middle of the green in the first round.

The three Avon golfers posted a combined stroke score of 244 and a modest six shot advantage over the 250 of Sully Buttes. Freeman is nine shots back at 259 and Mobridge and McCook Central share fourth with 260's. Garretson is another two shots back.

"A tough day to play golf," said tournament manager Jeff Rieckman of Philip. "However, the wind does create a lot of separation between levels of golfers. The winner here will have certainly proven his skill."

The tournament director said that while he might have preferred a less windy day, he was delighted with both the setting and the golf course.

"Aaron Roeber (Elks director of golf operations) and his staff have been awesome. "I have not heard a single negative," he said.

Tee-times begin at 9 a.m. today with the leaders scheduled off at 10:52.