Four share opening-round lead in Alabama

DOTHAN, Alabama—An amateur and three professionals fired 6-under 66s Tuesday in the opening round of the third PGA TOUR Canada Qualifying Tournament to take a share of the 18-hole lead. Pros Roy Cootes, Patrick Moriarty and Stephen Franken joined current Sacramento State player Riley Bell at the top of the leaderboard as they take a one-shot advantage over a trio of players—Drew Mathers, Connor Schmidt and Greg Edwards. An additional seven players are two strokes back.

Last week, Bell was in his native California for a college tournament, and following the event in Palm Desert, he traveled cross-country and made his first official round at RTJ Golf Trail at Highland Oaks an impressive one. Bell’s 66 came with only one bogey and seven birdies. His lone bogey was on his second hole, when he missed the green in regulation and was unable to get up and down for par. Bell did have a stretch of four birdies in a row, beginning at No. 4, his 13th hole of the day, while his other birdies came at Nos. 9, 14 and 16.

None of those birdies were of the memorable variety, he noted. “I didn’t make too many (long) putts but did take advantage of two of the par-5s,” he explained. Those par-5 birdies were at the seventh and the ninth. Bell closed his round with a three-foot birdie putt on No. 9.

Cootes made it to 8-under before a bogey-bogey finish dropped him back to 6-under. “I hit pretty much every shot how I wanted to on the front nine, and on the back nine too,” he said, acknowledging his less-than-desirable two-hole close that didn’t exactly dampen his enthusiasm. “This course is great. The greens are great,” he said.

Moriarty is looking to earn PGA TOUR Canada membership for the second time. He first played on the Tour in 2019, making seven appearances and getting to the weekend once. He also made a cut in his PGA TOUR Canada debut, in 2018. The highlight of his round Tuesday was an eagle at the par-5 seventh, where he rolled in an eight-foot putt. He missed taking the outright lead when he bogeyed his final hole of the day.

Franken was the last of the quartet to take his spot at the top of the leaderboard. He was also the only one of the four without a bogey on his card. Franken’s first five birdies came at Nos. 4, 7, 10, 14 and 15. He then closed with a flourish, pouring in a birdie on No. 18.

Franken has played in 12 PGA TOUR Canada tournaments, his only full season coming in 2019. A year ago, he had two PGA TOUR Canada appearances, missing the cut in both.