OMAHA, Neb. >> Doug Quinones of Hidden Valley Lake carded a 1-under-par 70 during first-round play Thursday in the Web.com Tour’s Pinnacle Bank Championship at The Club at Indian Creek in Omaha.
Quinones, a four-time All-Coastal Mountain Conference golfer at Middletown High School who played college golf at the University of Kansas, opened front-nine play with a 1-under-par 35 that included birdies on the fourth and eighth holes as well as a bogey on the seventh hole.
Going into the back nine, Quinones bogeyed the 11th hole but regained that stroke with a birdie on the 13th hole. He then ran off a string of five pars during his final nine to shoot even-par 35 for an 18-hole total of 70. Through the completion of round one, Quinones finds himself tied for 67th place.
Quinones qualified into the Pinnacle Bank field this past Monday by posting a 6-under-par 65 in nearby Lincoln, Nebraska. He was in the final pairing on Thursday. Quinones has a midday tee time on Friday. At the conclusion of the second round, the original field of 156 will be cut to the low 70 with ties for the final two rounds on Saturday and Sunday.
While the Web.com Tour is a developmental tour that can lead to inclusion in the PGA Tour for the top 25 money winners, a number of contestants in the field at Omaha have had past successes on the big tour. They include former U.S. Open runner-up Erik Compton, two-time PGA Tour champion Daniel Chopra, Casey Wittenberg, Dawie van der Walt, European Tour regular Thomas Aiken, Peter Tomasulo, and Nicholas Thompson, the brother of LPGA star Lexi Thompson. Also playing this week at Indian Creek are former college stars such as Beau Hossler of the University of Texas. Hossler played in two U.S. Opens by the time he was 17 years old. Jarin Todd, the two-time NCAA Division II champion from Sonoma State, is also in this week’s field.
Tom Lovelady sits atop the leader board after first-round play with a 7-under-par 64. Lovelady played collegiately at the University of Alabama and turned professional earlier this year. Justin Hicks is one stroke back in solo second place after shooting 65 while a fivesome of golfers share third place at 5-under-par 66.
