DAYTON - European Tour player Oliver Fisher shot the low round of the tournament with a 6-under 66 to take a one-shot lead after two rounds of Stage One PGA Tour Qualifying at Dayton Valley Golf Club.
Fisher, 363rd in the World Golf Ranking and 109th in the Race to Dubai on the European Tour, is at 9-under 136.
Southern Californian Paul Imondi used a hole-in-one on the 4th hole (his 13th hole) for a 5-under 67 to vault into a tie for second with Dusty Fielding (Washington, Utah) who had a 3-under 67. Both players are one shot back at 137.
Sean Shahi, from Southern California, and Colorado's Gunner Wiebe are tied for fourth another two-shots behind at 5-under 139 totals. Both players shot 69 in the second round.
Imondi used a 9-iron from 173 yards to a back right hole location to record the first ace of his career.
"It was the perfect time to get my first one," said Imondi who is making his second Dayton appearance finishing tied for 12th last year to advance. "The shot really gave me some momentum and I also birdied six and seven on the back. It is going to give me some confidence to stay aggressive in the final two rounds."
Fielding has put together two solid rounds in first Dayton appearance. He finished in a tie for 14th at Black Horse Golf Course in Seaside, Calif., to get into this field.
"The course is pretty straight forward, you know where the tough tee shots are and the greens are really good," Fielding said about his preparation to play the Arnold Palmer-designed Dayton Valley track. "If you hit good shots and good putts you usually get rewarded and I hope to keep doing just that."
Former Nevada Wolf Pack golfer Scott Smith, of Fallon, carded a 4-under 68 in the second round and is tied for 13th place with a 3-under 141 total. Smith had five birdies and only one bogey on his round and put himself in good position to advance if he continues his solid play.
Other former Nevada golfers Darrin Fletcher shot a 1-over 73 and Kevin Lucas shot a 1-under 7 and they are tied for 36th at even par 144. Jared Becher bounced back with a 1-over 73 and is tied for 66th at 6-over 150. Former UNLV and Galena golfer Travis Whisman struggled to a second consecutive 6-over par 78 and is tied for 74th place.
The field continued to bunch at the top with an additional seven players tied for sixth place, seven players tied for 13th and 10 more tied for 20th. In all 35 players are under par after 36-holes.
NOTES: This is the final year that a Stage One PGA Tour Qualifying tournament will be played at Dayton Valley in the current process. Next year the tour begins using the final four events on the Web.com Tour to determine the 50 pros who get playing rights on the following year's PGA Tour. Kent Kahree, the PGA Tour official working this year's Dayton qualifier, said that the tour has not reached an official decision on how the qualifying process will be structured for the Web.com Tour next year. "But with the same number of spots needing to be filled, I don't see how the process will change all that much with three stages determining the guys who qualify," Kahree said. Speculation here is that Dayton Valley will likely be selected as a qualifying site in the new process next year due to its 18-year history of successful PGA Tour qualifying events...The field has played to an average score of 72.37 for 36-holes and improved just slightly from the first round despite better weather conditions. There have been 21 eagles and 518 birdies carded.
