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The US player was unstoppable during a bogey-free 18 on the Reno course.
Watney, whose golf clothing favourites include a variety of caps, fired four front nine birdies.
But things were about to get even better on the back nine, as he went under-par on holes 10, 13, 14, 15 and 18.
Geoff Ogilvy and Tim Wilkinson, from Australia and New Zealand respectively, represent his biggest current threat, ending day one just two points adrift with 54 holes left.
Wilkinson, in fact, matched Watney's achievement of nine birdies. But he failed to match Watney's consistency over the course and suffered bogies on holes two and six. Ogilvy recorded eight birdies.
The Barracuda event is different from most tournaments in that it uses Modified Stableford, the scoring system which gives points according to how many strokes you take on each hole.
Sacramento-born Watney, 33, notched 18 points during his opening round.
In joint fourth place comes Chad Campbell and Martin Laird five points behind on 13, followed by a quartet of US players on 12. These include 28-year-old California-born Kevin Chappell.
© Copyright Press Association
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