RENO, Nev. – Jeff Overton birdied four of the first five holes to shoot a 7-under-par 65 and take the early first round lead in the clubhouse Thursday at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open.

Overton, a former all-Big Ten golfer at Indiana who won $1 million last year in his rookie season on the PGA Tour, made eight birdie putts – seven from 10 feet or closer – to go with a lone bogey for a two-shot lead over Harrison Frazar.

Half the field was still on the 7,472-yard mountain course at Montreux Golf & Country Club. Michelle Wie, making her first PGA appearance since the Sony Open in January 2007, was among those with afternoon tee times along with Steve Elkington, Scott McCarron and past Reno champs Chris Riley and Kirk Triplett.

Overton, 25, who missed the cut at Reno last year, took advantage of perfect conditions under sunny skies as part of the first group off the tee in the morning.

“I hit it in to four, five, six feet several holes in a row,” he said. “I birdied all the par 5s, which is huge.”

“Whenever you are making all your putts inside 10 or 12 feet, except the last hole, you are going to do well,” he said.

Overton, 25, made birdie putts of 10, eight, nine and seven feet on hole Nos. 2-6 then made a five-footer on the par-5 ninth to shoot a 31 on the front. He hit his second shot 314 yards to the back of the 17th green's fringe on the 636-yard par-5 then got up and down for his last birdie of the day.

Overton was the last of a record 99 players on tour last year to top the $1 million mark. This year, while still in search of his first tour victory, he's made the cut in half of his 22 starts and is ranked 139th on the money list with $400,952. His best finish is a tie for ninth at the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club. He tied for 70th last month at the British Open, his first appearance in a major.

“I was struggling early in the year,” Overton said. “About a month ago, I tried qualifying for the British Open and it really kind of came together for the first time since Disney, the last tournament of last year.”

Frazar, who is still seeking his first PGA victory in his 10th year on tour, had six birdies to get to minus 7 with three holes to play, but took a double bogey when he hit his tee shot out of bounds on the next par 3. He birdied the next hole but bogeyed the last to finish at 5-under 67.

Omar Uresti, who aced the 176-yard, par-3 16th, was next in a group at 68 that included Jay Delsing, Tag Ridings, Ian Leggatt, Charles Warren and Cameron Beckman.

The top 50 men are playing at the World Golf Championships in Ohio.