A sensational nine-under par 63 has helped American Steve Flesch take the lead at the Reno-Tahoe Open but Australia&aposs Steve Allan remains in contention just two strokes off the pace. Flesch began his round superbly, posting four birdies and an eagle on the front nine before carding another eagle on 11. To finish it off the American birdied the 18th to be one stroke ahead of Argentine Jose Coceres after a bogey-free opening. Australian Allan, who narrowly lost the Canadian Open last week, maintained his superb recent form by posting eight birdies and a bogey in a seven-under 65 to be equal third alongside John Merrick. After Allan, the next best Australians are Paul Gow and Jarrod Lyle who both carded five-under 67s. Gow posted seven birdies and 2 bogeys during his first round while Lyle&aposs first day was free from blemish as he hit five birdies. Just behind Gow and Lyle is New Zealand&aposs Grant Waite at four-under while Steve Elkington is one stroke further back. However, after Flesch&aposs impressive effort, Gavin Coles (71), Paul Sheehan (70), Michael Sim (73) and Andrew Buckle (74) look out of contention. Reno-Tahoe Open -9: Steve Flesch 63 -8: Jose Coceres 64 -7: Steve Allan (AUS), John Merrick 65 -6: Will Mackenzie, Jason Gore, Charlie Wi 66 -5: Paul Gow (AUS), Corey Pavin, Lucas Glover, Kent Jones, Mathias Gronberg, Jason Dufner, Brandon de Jong, Jarrod Lyle (AUS) 67 also -4: Grant Waite (NZL) 68 -3: Steve Elkington (AUS) 69 -1: Gavin Coles 71 (AUS) E: Paul Sheehan 72 (AUS) 1: Michael Sim 73 (AUS) 2: Andrew Buckle 74 (AUS)