Adam Crawford leads the Australian contingent after the first round of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament in California. Crawford trails leader Steve LeBrun by two strokes at the six-round tournament with the 172-strong field vying for 25 final PGA Tour cards (plus ties) for next season. Crawford is at six under overall, a stroke behind Edward Loar, Alexandre Rocha, Jin Park and Kris Blanks (all seven under) with LeBrun at eight under. Fellow Aussies Bryden Macpherson (four under – tied 20th), Marcus Fraser (three under – tied 34th), James Nitties, Mat Goggin, Ashley Hall (all at two under – tied for 50th) are right in contention with five rounds to play. Australians Rod Pampling, Nick O&aposHern, Matt Jones, Gavin Coles and Luke Hickmott are at one under while Steven Bowditch (one over) and Steve Allan (four over) have plenty of work to do. All of the top five played the slightly easier PGA West TPC Stadium Course with three players, including Sweden&aposs Robert Karlsson and American Richard H Lee, best placed at six under having played the Nicklaus Tournament Course. Four players in the top 60 of the PGA World Rankings are in the field – Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (33), Alex Noren (51), Rafael Cabrera-Bello (53) and Fraser (58). Fraser is best placed of the quartet at three under, Cabrera-Bello and Noren are at two under in a tie for 50th, while Castano is down at one under in a tie for 81st. Three-time PGA winner Camillo Villegas is also at two under after a birdie on the front and back nine of the Stadium Course. Swede Daniel Chopra is looking for back-to-back Tour cards after losing his in 2010 and is well poised in equal 20th. The 38-year-old had 14 titles to his name but has not won one since the Fresh Express Classic in April last year.
Author: Omnisport