Ben Geyer drives from the 17th tee Wednesday at Dayton Valley.
DAYTON — Ideal weather and course conditions lead to a perfect scoring storm and a leaderboard filled with red numbers after 36-holes of the Stage One Web.com Tour Qualifier at Dayton Valley Golf Club.
First round co-leader Gavin Green of Selangor, Malaysia fired an 8-under 64 to move into solo first place with a two-round total of 14-under 130.
David Vanegas of Medellin, Columbia also shot 64 and is in second at 131. Damian Telles of The Dalles, Ore., carded a 6-under 66 to claim third at 11-under 133. First round co-leaders Steven Fox of Hendersonville, Tenn., and amateur Cameron Davis of Sydney, Australia each shot 4-under 68 to slip into a tie for fourth place at 10-under.
With rounds of 7-under 65, Mark Stevens of Pembroke, N.H., and Nick Delio of Valencia, Calif., jumped up the leaderboard into sixth place and a tie for seventh respectively. Gunnar Wiebe of San Diego, Calif., and son of PGA and Champion Tour winner Mark Wiebe, shot a second 68 to tie Delio for seventh.
Low Nevadan in the field goes to Joseph Harrison of Boulder City who carded a 68 and is tied for ninth place with three other players at 7-under 137.
Leader Green played the par-5 holes at 5-under with three birdies and an eagle that accounted for most of his low scoring on the day. He almost made a rare albatross on the 546-yard 11th hole when he hit his 9-iron second shot to inside one-foot for an easy tap-in eagle. He also birdied two par threes and the par 4 15th in a bogey-free round. “I played the same as yesterday, kept the ball in play on the tough holes and took advantage of the par fives,” said the 2016 Malaysian Olympic team golfer. “I made one long bomb on 15 and just played steady, good golf all day.”
Vanegas also had a bogey-free round with six birdies and a tap-in eagle on the par 5 third hole in route to his 64. “I played really solid and hit a lot of greens in regulation with several tap-ins,” he said. “I’m playing to win this thing and I set a goal of 10-under par for when I finished today.”
He may need to set his goal for a little lower score if the weather holds and conditions remain the same. The Dayton Q-school 72-hole scoring record is 26-under par 262 set in 2014 by John Ellis of San Jose, Calif. That record could be broken if the leaders continue at the current low scoring pace.
For perspective on how well every golfer in the field played, the overall scoring average for the entire 74-player field on the day was nearly 2-under par at 70.29 and an accumulative 70.95 for 36 holes. After two rounds, 45 players are under par with another six at even par.
However, if the wind picks-up as forecast for the next two days, the players will find it much more difficult to go low on the firm and fast greens that were running 12.8 on the Stimp meter for the second round.
Leaderboard watching is the predominant activity for the players in qualifying events where “getting inside the number” is the primary objective. If the tournament ended today, the cut line for qualifying would be at 4-under par, with 29 players theoretically advancing as the 24 low scores and ties as set by the Web.com Tour.
