GREENSBORO, August 19, 2011 (AFP) - Jeff Quinney, who is playing in just his 11th tournament of the year, fired a seven-under 63 to grab a share of the lead after Thursday's first round of the Wyndham Championship.
The 32-year old Quinney is tied with fellow American Tommy Gainey after the opening round of the final tournament before the start of the PGA Tour's playoffs.
The top 125 players in FedEx Cup points standings are eligible for the playoffs.
Quinney currently sits in 215th place and needs a win in Greensboro to gets into the post-season.
"The only chance I get in the playoffs is probably winning this week,'" Quinney said. "Basically, just push all your chips in, and this is what I got."
Quinney, who is chasing his first PGA Tour win, rolled in eight birdies, including five in a row early in his round.
Gainey had five birdies and an eagle in equalling his career-best round.
Australia's Stuart Appleby is alone in third after shooting a seven-under 64.
South African Ernie Els, England's Paul Casey, Fiji's Vijay Singh and Carl Pettersson of Sweden are part of a group of 10 players tied at 65.
Quinney started and finished strong as his approach shot on his final hole of the day landed just three feet from the cup for a birdie. Starting on the back nine, he birdied four straight holes beginning with No. 12 but gave one shot back with a bogey on the 18th.
"It's my last chance, and don't hold back, try to get out of my own way," Quinney said.
Gainey had four birdies and an eagle on his front nine. One of his biggest problems of the day came on No. 15 when he landed in the water off the tee but he still managed to par the hole.
"I hit it terrible off the tee, hit my irons really good, made a lot of putts, but I left quite a few shots out there, so I've got to definitely work on the tee ball here, because it's starting to really frustrate me," Gainey said. "Any time you play and shoot 63, it's a good day."
Els, who sits at No. 126 in the standings, needs a strong showing this week as he is on the bubble of making the playoffs.
"I said to the guys, 'My playoffs started this week. If I don't play well this week, I'm not advancing,'" said Els.
"Most of the other guys have four playoff events. I have five. I feel like I need to do well (to go to) The Barclays and keep going. It's hard not to think about it. There's quite a bit of pressure on us guys lower down the field. We need to perform well."
Scores after the first round of the $5.2 million PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship at the Sedgefield Country Club on Thursday (USA unless noted):
63 - Jeff Quinney, Tommy Gainey
64 - Stuart Appleby
65 - Paul Casey (ENG), Carl Pettersson (SWE), Ernie Els (RSA), Jason Bohn, Jimmy Walker, Tim Herron, Lee Janzen, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh (FIJ), George McNeill
66 - Greg Chalmers (AUS), Chez Reavie, Justin Leonard, David Toms, Webb Simpson, Jason Dufner, Vaughn Taylor, Jim Renner, Alexandre Rocha (BRA), Daniel Summerhays, Patrick Reed, D.J. Brigman
...
67 - Retief Goosen (RSA), Nathan Green (AUS), Angel Cabrera (ARG)
68 - Nick O'Hern (AUS), Fabian Gomez (ARG), Cameron Percy (AUS), Olafur Loftsson (ISL), Jarrod Lyle (AUS), Rod Pampling (AUS), Marc Leishman (AUS), Kang Sung-hoon (KOR)
69 - Ryuji Imada (JPN), Padraig Harrington (IRL), Kim Kyung-tae (KOR), Trevor Immelman (RSA), Brendon de Jonge (ZIM), David Hearn (CAN), Chris Baryla (CAN), Ian Poulter (ENG), Matt McQuillan (CAN)
70 - Richard S. Johnson (SWE), Camilo Villegas (COL), Steven Bowditch (AUS), Matt Jones (AUS)
72 - Aron Price (AUS)
73 - Henrik Stenson (SWE), Arjun Atwal (IND)
75 - Nyasha Mauchaza (ZIM)