Mexico City, Mexico (October 20, 2014) -- An opening-round 63 on Thursday secured Chris Gilman the OHL Round of the Week Award, which is presented to the player who posts the lowest round at every PGA TOUR Latinoamérica tournament.  



Gilman, 28, started his round with a bogey on the first hole, but then found eight birdies and an eagle that left him on top of the leaderboard of the 56th TransAmerican Power Products CRV Abierto Mexicano de Golf, presented by Heineken.

“It was a wonderful day for sure,” Gilman said about this opening round performance. “I started with a bogey on No. 1 and wasn’t sure what was going to happen the rest of the day. Clearly, I kept the ball in play and I made just about every single putt.”

After his bogey on 1, Gilman went back to par with a birdie on No. 2. His charge started on No. 6, a 625-yard par 5 where he holed out a 123-yard 54-degree wedge for eagle. He went birdie-birdie-par-birdie-birdie on the following five holes.

“Things were going my way, let’s put it that way. I hit the ball very nicely, kept it in play, kept it in the fairways and hit a lot of quality iron shots and made a lot of 10 to 20 foot putts today,” said Gilman, who followed his hot run with birdies on 13, 15 and 17.

The player from Yorba Linda, California claimed a $1,000 check that OHL awards for the lowest score of the week.

Gilman held the outright lead for the first 54 holes. A final round 76 made him drop into a tie for fifth for his second top-5 of the season.

2014 Season OHL Round of the Week Award winners: 

• 67° Arturo Calle Colombian Open: Manuel Merizalde, Colombia 60 (-10)

• TransAmerican Power Products CRV Open: Mauricio Molina, Argentina 61 (-10)

• Stella Artois Open: Martin Trainer, U.S. 63 (-9)

• Mundo Maya Open: Matt Ryan, U.S. 66 (-6)

• 83°Abierto OSDE del Centro: William Kropp, U.S. 66  (-5)

• Roberto De Vicenzo Invitational: Robert Rohanna, U.S. 65 (-7)

• Dominican Republic Open: Rick Cochran III, U.S. 64 (-8)

• Lexus Panama Classic: Emilio Domínguez, Argentina 64 (-8)

• All you need is Ecuador Open: Mauricio Azcué, Mexico 63 (-9)

• Arturo Calle Colombian Classic: Chas Narramore, U.S. 63 (-9)

• TransAmerican Power Products CRV Mazatlán Open: Tyler McCumber, U.S. 66 (-6)

• TransAmerican Power Products CRV Abierto Mexicano: Chris Gilman, U.S. 63 (-9)