Barracuda Championship 2017: John Huh Holds Slim Lead After Round 1

John Huh owns a slim lead over Miguel Angel Carballo and Stuart Appleby through the first round of the 2017 Barracuda Championship at Montreux Golf and Country Club in Reno, Nevada.

The tournament uses a modified Stableford scoring format, which can create confusion for some golf fans unfamiliar with the system when they look at the leaderboard. Below is a breakdown for how points are assigned by the score on each hole, courtesy of the PGA Tour's official Twitter account:

Huh collected 15 points over the opening 18 holes, with Carballo and Appleby both a point behind:

2017 Barracuda Championship Leaderboard—Top Five

1. John Huh (15 points)

T2. Miguel Angel Carballo (14 points)

T2. Stuart Appleby (14 points)

T4. Brandon Hagy (13 points)

T4. Ben Martin (13 points)

T4. Ryan Palmer (13 points)

T4. Dicky Pride (13 points)

T4. Patton Kizzire (13 points)

T4. Rick Lamb (13 points)

Huh owes much of his lead to his hot start. Beginning on the back nine, he had nine points before making the turn after birdieing five holes and bogey No. 17.

The 27-year-old birdied the first and second holes on the front nine before cooling off a bit. He closed his round with a birdie on the ninth hole, which proved to be the difference between him and the combination of Carballo and Appleby.

Carballo perfectly illustrates how the modified Stableford system rewards golfers who are willing to take chances an extra incentive. More than half of his 14 points came from just two holes after he eagled Nos. 2 and 17. Together the pair of eagles gave Carballo 10 points.

Appleby, like Huh, showed that consistency can be a winning strategy in the Barracuda Championship as well. He missed only one of the 14 fairways and reached 13 greens in regulation. Were it not for the second of his two bogeys on the front nine, Appleby could have potentially sat in a tie with Huh for the lead.

The PGA Tour shared a replay of one of Appleby's eight birdies. He dropped his second shot on the par-four sixth hole within four feet of the cup and had little trouble sinking his birdie putt:

J.J. Spaun earned the distinction of hitting the best shot of the round after he aced the 16th hole. The hole-in-one is a big reason Spaun is tied for 10th with 11 points.

Greg Chalmers headed to Reno as the defending champion in this event. He eagled the final hole of the tournament to notch his first win on the PGA Tour.

While Chalmers is outside the top five after the first round, he's well within striking distance of Hugh. With 11 points, he's in an 11-way tie for 10th place.