(Sports Network) - Who is Justin Hicks? Who better to answer that question than the man himself.

"I think I'm another one of the guys out there playing the Nationwide Tour trying to earn his PGA Tour card," Hicks said.

But on Thursday, the 33-year-old U.S. Open qualifier was anything but just another Nationwide Tour player. He was a surprise first-round leader at the season's second major following an early three-under 68 at tough Torrey Pines.

"Hard to compare it to anything," Hicks said.

Not a shocking statement from the No. 772 player in the world.

It was quite a day.

Six days after he missed the cut for the third time this season on the Nationwide Tour, Hicks played the 7,600-yard South Course three shots better than Phil Mickelson. He played it four shots better than Tiger Woods.

Hicks made one birdie, one bogey and four pars over his last six holes -- a steady finish considering he was under the pressure of being a U.S. Open leader.

"I was trying not to think about that detail itself," said Hicks, who missed the cut at Shinnecock Hills in 2004 in his only other U.S. Open start. "I was just out there trying to put together a good round of golf."

And here's the thing: Hicks doesn't belive there's much of a difference between playing a good round of golf on the developmental Nationwide Tour than on the PGA Tour -- the home of golfing legends.

You didn't need to read anything into Hicks' comments Thursday to come away with that conclusion. He said it outright.

"I think that a lot of people like to say that there's a big difference between the two tours," Hicks said, "and I don't think there's as much of a difference as people believe."

He'd get a lot of arguments on that, even from his opponents on the Nationwide Tour, where he ranks 156th on the money list -- a longshot to earn his PGA Tour card by being in the top 25 at the end of the season.

"Some guys that I talked to last week when I was at the Nationwide event said, 'Geez, you're going out to the U.S. Open,' kind of like they were saying good luck with it, like it's always tough to go to an Open and shoot 73 or 74 and feel good about yourself," said Hicks.

"But it's all relative -- 73 or 74 on a really tough golf course might feel like you shot 68 or something. So I think if you just approach it with the right mindset and stay patient, like any other golf course you just try to hit fairways and greens and make as many putts as you can."

Still, it's hard to imagine somebody playing poorly enough to miss the cut by three shots at the Rex Hospital Open, then coming back to lead the toughest tournament in professional golf.

"We play a lot of great courses on [the Nationwide Tour], and if you play good golf out there, I certainly believe that you're capable of doing it out here," said Hicks. "And the proof's in the pudding."

The pudding on the menu Thursday included seven Hicks birdies -- the same number Mickelson and Woods had combined. Even Hicks, bold in his assertions, didn't see that one coming.

"I would have thought that I probably would have had to make pretty much everything I looked at," he said.



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