KANNAPOLIS — Dirk Schultz found the Kannapolis Country Club golf course to his liking a year ago, and nothing has changed.

Schultz, a 35-year-old club pro from Hagerstown,Md., shot a first-round 67 on Tuesday and shared the lead with Australian David Bransdon entering this morning’s second round.

“This is my home track, I guess,” said Schultz, who won by nine strokes with an 18-under-par 270 that was highlighted by a hole in one on the final day.

“I’ve just felt confident the whole time I’ve been here so far,” said Schultz, who had 13 pars and five birdies in his 5-under round.

Schultz, a 6-foot-7 former college basketball player at Shippensburg State (Pa.), had rounds of 68, 64, 66 and 72 a year ago, so he’s one stroke better off.

“It’s a good mental thing for me,” he said of playing at Kannapolis again. “There’s not much trouble, really. It’s wide open. You don’t have to hit driver on every hole. You can hit 4- and 5-irons off the tee and hit wedges in from there. It’s kind of low stress.”

Schultz had nines of 34 and 33 on the 6,847-yard course. He made birdies on Nos. 3, 6, 10, 14 and 15.

Bransdon, who is from Victoria, Australia, made more birdies (seven) than did Schultz, but he also had two bogeys.

Bransdon birdied Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 7 to go 4 under early, then made a bogey 4 on No. 9 for a 33 on the front side. He added birdie 3s on Nos. 10, 13 and 16 on the back nine but made bogey at No. 12 for a 34.

One stroke back of the co-leaders are Steve Gilley of Newnan, Ga.; David Gunas Jr. of Greensboro; and Rob Bradley of Louisville, Ky.

Tied for sixth place with 69s are Jim Salinetti of Lee, Mass.; Curtis Deal of Chesapeake, Va.; Don Hill of Mount Olive; Jeff Lyons of Brentwood, Calif.; Jay Patterson of Durham; Ray Franz Jr. of Statesboro, Ga.; Dan Konieczny of Mt. Pleasant, Pa.; and Ian Kennedy of Cape Town, South Africa.

The top 23 golfers after 72 holes will advance to the second of three stages that determine PGA and Buy.com Tour playing status for the 2001 season.

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POINTS LEADER: Schultz not only has played well in his five rounds at Kannapolis over two seasons, but he’s also doing superbly in Maryland.

“I’m leading the Mid-Atlantic right now for points for player of the year,” he said, referring to a tournament format for club pros in Maryland and Virginia. “I’ve got one more tournament to go. I’ve got a good lead, but I can’t fall down in that last tournament.”

Schultz hopes to advance to the second stage and do better than last year, when he came up short at Grenelefe West in Haines City, Fla.

“I went to a golf course that I liked last year, but I kind of lost my golf swing between here and there. I just didn’t play well. I just wasn’t the same person that was here, but that’s golf. Hopefully, I can keep it solid for another month,” he said.

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IN THE HUNT: Salisbury’s Elliot Gealy got off to a rough start when he made a double-bogey 6 on No. 1, but he still wound up 1 under par with a 71.

Gealy, who played high school golf at Salisbury and collegiately at Clemson University, is in a 10-way tie for 23rd place, and the top 23 advance.

“Just getting under par for my start is probably a goal after the first hole,” said Gealy. “You don’t want to take yourself out of it. You want to put yourself in position.”

Gealy, who has won over $50,000 since turning pro in June of 1999, had rounds of 68, 75, 75 and 69 a year ago for a 287 that left him in 28th place. He missed a playoff by two strokes.

“Out there on the back nine, I thought I could have a chance to shoot under par,” said Gealy, who was still 1 over after three-putting the par-5 12th hole. “I happened to make one (birdie) on 15 and made one I didn’t really expect to make on 17.”

Gealy said he ran into trouble on the par-4 No. 1 hole when he “cut it in these trees right here,” pointing to the right of the fairway. “Then I tried to go over the trees (in the right corner of the dogleg), which is the mistake I made. I should have laid up and tried to hit the 80-yard shot and made no worse than a 5. ... After that I settled down a little bit.”

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FAST GREENS: Kannapolis director of golf Jeff Austin said the greens were fast, a little too fast.

“It was 11.5 on the Stimpmeter yesterday (Monday’s practice round), which is a little bit faster than the tour wants for the tour events. They’ve asked us not to roll them today,” said Austin.

The Stimpmeter is a device that measures the speed of the greens.

“The specifications from the tour were somewhere between 9 and 10.5,” he pointed out.