The Barracuda Championship is opposite the higher-profile World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, but the alternate PGA Tour event has a unique, Modified Stableford format to keep golf fans engaged.Martin Laird posted a plus-15 thanks to eight birdies against only one bogey in a round of seven-under 65 at Montreux Golf and Country Club in Las Vegasgood for a one-point lead over Greg Chalmers, Camilo Villegas and Gary Woodland.Scores with a plus in front of them usually aren't good in golf. That isn't the case this week at the Barracuda Championship.For those unfamiliar with the Modified Stableford scoring system, PGATour.comprovidesa full explanation. The essence is scores are valued by points, with the primary ones being as follows: two points for a birdie, zero for par and minus-one for a bogey.Laird made matters easy for himself on Thursday with a stupendous ball-striking round, particularly off the tee. Capitalizing on the circumstances of scoring, which generally allows players to be more aggressive, he averaged 329.5 yards off the tee and hit 12 of 14 fairways, along with 14 of 18 greens in regulation.Currently on the FedEx Cup bubblehe is 131st, and the top 125 get into the playoffsLaird is projected to vault all the way to 64th in the points standings with a win.But other talented golfers need a strong showing in Vegas to ensure they keep their tour cards too. Chief among the top contenders is Villegas, who was featured in the top 10 of the world rankings at the apex of his career and is 142nd in the FedEx Cup standings.Golf Channel hinted at Villegas' accomplished past in highlighting his stellar performance:Woodland won the Barracuda Championship in 2013 and has the length to overpower Montreux. He posted a four-under 32 at the turn in the opening round, highlighted by a five-point eagle at the par-five eighth.The 32-year-old birdied No. 9 and had three straight birdies from Nos. 11 through 13 to get to 16 points.Unfortunately, Woodland dropped a couple of shots on the way to the clubhouse, bogeying the par-four 15th and the par-five 18th, which was especially disappointing, as he blocked his second shot into the water.Others of note in the field are exceptional iron player Graham DeLaet, who's in a tie for 15th (+9) past winner Geoff Ogilvy (+8), and Jon Rahm.The latter was the low amateur at the U.S. Open and tied for third at the Quicken Loans National last week in his professional debut. It was a bit of a struggle for Rahm (+5), but he provided some of the top highlights from Thursday's action with consecutive chip-ins at Nos. 9 and 10:Those shots helped the Spanish prodigy hang tough amid a mostly frustrating round of one-under 71.Rahm has a fiery, competitive on-course personality and has the firepower to rally his way back into contention in this tournament. He had to have taken some confidence from his showing at Congressional and on the major stage, and this week presents another test to show he belongs on the PGA Tour.With Laird and Villegas near the top of the leaderboard fighting for FedEx Cup berths, Rahm trying to earn full-time status and Woodland attempting to win the tournament for the second time in four years, Thursday presented a plethora of intriguing storylines to begin the Barracuda Championship.Note: Stats courtesy of PGATour.com.
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