New South Welshman Rhein Gibson blasted his way to a 9-under 62 in the Web.com Tour’s weather-delayed opening round of the Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by NACHER.

Gibson
chalked up a pair of eagles and overpowered the Le Triomphe Golf & Country
Club and moved into the clubhouse lead.

A pair of
back-to-back lightning delays halted first-round play for over two and half
hours, which kept 72 players in the field of 144 from completing their rounds. The
first round will resume at 7:45am Friday morning local time.

Gibson, a transplanted
Oklahoma resident, currently holds a two-shot lead over 49-year old Glen Day
and rookie Cameron Wilson.

Bronson
Burgoon, Wes Roach and Whee Kim all finished up in the morning with 6-under
65’s and share fourth place. Roach is coming off a T3 finish at last week’s
Chile Classic in Santiago.

Gibson was
among the early starters and had completed 17 holes when the first delay came
shortly after noon.

He waited
out a 75-minute delay and returned to the 18^th tee but wasn’t able
to hit his second shot before the horns sounded again after rapidly developing
storms hovered near the Lafayette area.

"It was
pretty easy conditions this morning," said Gibson, who closed his round with a
wedge to 16 feet and a birdie.

"I think we
got the better side of the draw. I’m stoked with 9-under but if you’d said I
could have had three or four-under this morning, I would have taken it."

Gibson took
advantage of his length off the tee and hit driver, 5-iron to 15 feet on the 555-yard,
first hole for an eagle and then hit 4-iron to 10 feet at number seven for his
second eagle of the day.

"That just
carried momentum through the round," said Gibson, who averaged 328.5 yards on
his two measured drives.

"The first
day you’re a little nervous because you’d like to get off to a good start
because it sets up your week. You don’t want to be behind the eight-ball
because you’re always chasing your tail."