Australian Nick O’Hern grabs first round lead at Reno Tahoe Open in Nevada
Nick O’ Hern has now soared to the top after the first round of Reno Tahoe Open at the Montreux Golf and Country Club, Reno, Nevada, owing to his stellar performance in the opening round. O’ Hern pulled in seven-under, 65 to edge past the rest of the field
at the $3-million event without dropping a single shot.
“Can't play much better than that,” said O'Hern. “Missed a couple of putts but every time I hit an ornery shot I got it up and down for par, so I kept the round going,” he said.
O’ Hern posted the only bogey-free round of the day and putted six of his seven birdies from 10 feet or more. The Australian golfer has not won an event so far on the tour and has made 10 cuts in his 22 starts on the PGA Tour in 2011, and his best finish
came at the RBC Heritage in April.
O’Hern made his last appearance in the Reno Tahoe Open in 2001 where he failed to make the cut after disappointing rounds of 73 and 71. This is the third time O’ Hern has led the field in the opening round on PGA Tour and the player is eager to post his
maiden victory on the tour.
Chris Riley finished for an outright second, carding seven birdies and dropping one shot at par-four, 5th. Riley has also not won a tournament in the current season and is looking for a victory to help him retain his card.
“I just need to get out of my own way and play golf,” Riley said. “I know my game is there. The older I get the more I think about it and that's not a good thing.”
Riley is a former UNVL star and was able to reserve a berth at the President’s Cup in 2002 when he won the Reno Tahoe Open for the first time.
“I know it's going to be a lot harder, so definitely I just feel like I got one in the bank, so to speak,” he added.
The tournament is being played adjacent to the WGC Bridgestone Invitational and has a purse of $3-million with a winner’s share of $540,000. The event has a reduced FedExCup point’s share of 250 against the normal point’s scale of 500.
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