PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Any illusions that the players in this week’s PGA Tour Q-School presented by Korn Ferry would have four idyllic days in sunny Florida were shattered in Thursday’s first round.
The wind blew hard at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley. It blew harder across the street at the Sawgrass Country Club. And while Fxriday’s second might not be any worse, get ready for the weekend: wind and rain, upwards of an 80 percent chance on Saturday and Sunday.
“I think that it’s not going to get any easier,” said Roberto Diaz, a former Jacksonville resident who now lives in San Antonio. “It’s going to be a grind all week.”
However, that didn’t mean a lack of good scores in the first round, especially at the Valley Course.
Harrison Endycott of Australia, who finished 14 spots out of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Fall points list, and Tano Goya of Argentina, a past DP World Tour winner who has set up a home base in Ponte Vedra Beach, both shot 5-under 65s at the Valley Course to take a one-shot lead in the 72-hole tournament that will determine the final five spots for the 2024 PGA Tour season and Korn Ferry Tour status for the rest.
Max McGreevey of Edmond, Oklahoma, shot 4-under 66 at Sawgrass and Doc Redman of Jacksonville, Florida, a former Clemson player, and Hayden Springer, who came out of TCU, posted 66s at the Valley Course.
It was a day that cried out for the cautious approach and that’s what Endycott and Goya did.
“I played pretty nice today, just didn’t really make any mistakes,” said Endycott, who is guaranteed Korn Ferry Tour status for next season and is chasing one of the five Tour cards. “It was just a day of kind of hang in there … don’t get greedy.”
Goya, a 35-year-old veteran of several international tours who has lived in the area for more than two years, had a goal of hitting the ball, and then finding it with little trouble.
“Hit the ball great,” he said. “Solid ball-striking got me through a lot of fairways and greens, so that was pretty much the key today.”
Thirty-one players broke par in the first round but only seven at Sawgrass.
Local leaderboard
Other than Goya and Redman, the next highest area players on the leaderboard were former Florida Gator and NCAA individual champion Fred Biondi, former Jacksonville University player Raul Pereda, Bartram Trail graduate and past DP World Tour winner Julian Suri and Dawson Armstrong, who are all tied for 32nd at even-par.
Biondi, Pereda and…
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