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                Two former N.C. State players with local connections are tied for second and one shot off the lead after the first round of the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club.

                Tim Clark, the 1997 Cardinal Amateur champion, and Carl Pettersson, a Grimsley High School graduate, shot 6-under-par 64s today to challenge two relative unknowns who played in the morning. Martin Laird, a 25-year-old Scotsman, and Bob Heintz, a Yale University graduate who has made half his starts this year on the Nationwide Tour, own the top spot after a 63.

                Clark, a native of South Africa, has won nearly $11 million as a professional but is seeking his first victory in any tournament. He has finished in the Top 25 in nine events this year alone.

                Pettersson, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, fired a 29 on his back nine while backed by a large group of supporters.

Pettersson moved to Greensboro from his native Sweden while in high school when his father, an executive of Volvo Trucks North America, was transferred to the company’s office here. The family lived on the course at Starmount Country Club, which hosted the inaugural Greater Greensboro Open in 1938. Pettersson won the NCHSAA state title as a senior.

    “It almost puts added pressure on you to play well, but once you get it going, it’s nice to have the support,” he said.

                Clark briefly held a share of the lead, but he got into trouble on his final hole and missed a 10-foot putt for par.

                Laird, who resurrected his season with a fourth-place finish in Reno two weeks ago, and Heintz set the early pace with 7-under-par 63s over the 7,000-yard, redesigned layout.

                Laird, who played at Colorado State University, moved up to 164th place in the FedEx Cup playoffs standings with his performance at the Reno-Tahoe Open. Heintz stands at 167 entering this week. The top 144 make the first round of the playoffs.

                “I don’t even know where I am on the money list,” Heintz said. “I don’t now where I am on the FedEx Cup because I didn’t think it would help me to know that information before I started the week.”

                Heintz is a 38-year-old Long Island native who has missed the cut in six of his 11 starts on the big circuit this year. He has supplemented his income by competing part-time on the Nationwide Tour.

                There’s a logjam at 66 that includes defending champion Brant Snedeker and Stephen Poole, a former Clemson player with no full-time Tour status who made the field by winning the open qualifier.

                Otherwise, he would have been headed for the Hooter’s Tour stop in Dothan, Ala.

                “Yeah, it’s been a good week,” he said.

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.com