Rookie Dufner takes first round honours

Jason Dufner pointed to last week as evidence anything can happen on the PGA Tour. He hopes to prove it again.

Mired in an awful rookie season, Dufner shot a 7-under 65 Thursday to match his best round of the year and take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro. He has missed the cut in 15 of 26 tournaments, and with only two events left, he's 186th on the money list.

Only the top 125 are guaranteed a spot for 2005.

``It's been a tough year,'' he said. ``I haven't played that bad for the year, but it's just not working out. To be honest with you, I really don't have anything to lose. I need top fives or better to secure my card for next year.''

Of course, Dufner is well ahead of where Andre Stolz started in Las Vegas a week ago. He was 217th before an improbable victory there, and it vaulted Stolz all the way to 89th. And, it gave him a two- year exemption.

``It just goes to show you that anything is possible,'' Dufner said. ``Looking at the results, he's had an awful year. Now, he's pretty much set for the next two years.''

Brent Geiberger, Tom Pernice Jr., Bo Van Pelt, Brendan Pappas and Brett Quigley all had 66s Thursday and 12 players were another stroke back. That group included Justin Rose, who had a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th.

Defending champ Shigeki Maruyama had a 68, as did U.S. Amateur champion Ryan Moore.

Overnight rain left the course soft and vulnerable, and with little wind to contend with, even the most difficult hole locations were accessible.

``It was a nice day to play,'' Pernice said. ``You could pretty much take dead aim.''

Van Pelt only came to Greensboro on a whim. All year, he planned to skip this tournament and attend homecoming at his alma mater, Oklahoma State. The undefeated and 16th-ranked Cowboys play Texas A&M this week.

But with his game coming together, he felt he couldn't pass up another chance to move up on the money list. He's currently 40th and needs to get into the top 30 to make the season-ending Tour Championship.

In 28 tournaments this season, Van Pelt has five top-10 finishes, and he's earned nearly $1.5 million.

``I figured if I was shooting for the top 30, I wouldn't be worried about the top 125,'' he said. ``I got a little too caught up in thinking about it the last six or seven weeks, and even though I was playing pretty well, I wasn't having much fun.''

So his wife Carrie told him to forget about the money and just go back to the strategy that got him here.

``She said, 'You got in this position by having fun and taking one shot at a time, and that seemed to work pretty good. Why don't you go back to that?''' Van Pelt said. ``That's kind of what I was trying to get back to today.''

Geiberger and Pappas also are hoping to finish strong, only they simply want to secure their status for 2005. Both are on the outside looking in right now -- Pappas is 134th and Geiberger is 144th.

This is the first time Geiberger has been in this position; since making it through qualifying school in 1996, he's only been out of the top 100 twice. But injuries limited him to only 16 starts last season, and a hip ailment has hampered his play of late.

If he was higher on the money list, he likely would not be in Greensboro.

``I probably wouldn't be playing,'' Geiberger said. ``I probably wouldn't have been playing the past month. But you do what you have to do.''

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