Nallen and Quinn share lead at Miccosukee Championship

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MIAMI -- Numbers are important in life -- birth-date, age, bank account, the Dow, number of days until the election -- you get the picture. In golf, the only number that counts is your score.

Co-leader Fran Quinn began his opening round with an eagle. (Anderson/Getty Images)

Inside the Numbers

Nallen vs. Quinn

Category Nallen Quinn Eagles 1 1 Birdies 4 3 Pars 11 13 Bogeys 2 1 Double Bogeys 0 0 Other 0 0 Driving Accuracy 71.4% 64.3% Driving Distance 282.5 yds. 290.5 yds. Greens in Regulation 55.6% 66.7% Putts per Round 24 29 Putts per GIR 1.500 1.917 Sand Saves 100% 100%

For players on the Nationwide Tour, it's all about the numbers at a wet and windy Miccosukee Championship.

Chris Nallen and Fran Quinn are co-leaders at 4-under 67 after Thursday's first round at the Miccosukee Golf & Country Club.

Darron Stiles, Scott Gardiner, Camilo Benedeitti and Daniel Summerhays are tied for third at 3-under 68.

Past champion, Bryce Molder, who began his round with a pair of bogeys, and money leader Brendon de Jonge are amongst a group of eleven players at 2-under 69.

The highlight of Nallen's round was an eagle at the fifth hole, where he struck a 7-iron to two feet. Four birdies mixed with two bogeys had the 26-year-old New York Rangers fan in the lead after the morning wave, and Quinn joined him late in the day. Nallen had high expectations after winning the 2004 Gila River Golf Classic in his first ever Nationwide Tour start, where he shot 60 in the first round and led wire to wire.

"I want to be on the big TOUR," said Nallen, who hit 10 of 18 greens and had 24 putts. "There are so many guys who have been through the Nationwide Tour though, and it's helped them so much -- guys like Brandt Snedeker and Zach Johnson.

"I'm hard on myself but when you love doing something, and you love competing, you don't want to play badly," he added. "I'm lucky to be playing so I'm giving it all I can give."

Not only is Nallen, at No. 72 on the money list, concerned about his future status on Tour, he is also dealing with another issue the past few days.

"I've had the hiccups for three days," said Nallen, from Tucson, Ariz. "I just try to time them between swings. Maybe it helps me because I don't think about my swing as much. As far as the money list goes, I try not to think about it at all. People know, and your friends tell you where you are. Everybody's doing their best out here. Nobody plays bad on purpose."

Quinn, a Worcester, Mass., native, began his round with an eagle at the 10th hole then followed with birdies at 13 and 16. A missed three-footer at the par-3 fourth hole led to his only bogey of the day, but he bounced back with a birdie at the fifth. The 16th was where all the action happened, though.

"I was doing an on-course interview with Michael Breed when the group behind hooked one and hit my caddie on the knee," explained Quinn, who had a Nationwide Tour rules official caddie for him for one hole while 'Bully' Duarte, Quinn's caddie, received medical assistance. "Bully's going to hurt tomorrow but we both did a great job all day. It was tough out there."

Quinn, who is 58th on the money list with $109,679, had a great chance to take the outright lead but his seven-foot birdie putt slid by at the final hole.

"You can't force anything out there in this weather," said Quinn. "If you didn't hit good shots you were going to make bogeys. If you hit good shots you could get rewarded. You just have to take the opportunities when they come."

After starting at hole No. 10, Benedetti, who is playing on a sponsors invitation, had a great first nine stringing together four birdies in six holes on 13, 14, 16 and 18. He closed with a bogey when his wedge from the rough flew over the green into a poor lie and he failed to get up and down.

"I'm pretty satisfied," said Benedetti, a University of Florida graduate who lies 152nd on the money list. "I was very patient today, and in this wind that is exactly what you need to be. It was great of (Tournament Director) Don Strock to give me a start here. I've got nothing to lose. The worst I can do is go to q-school so I might as well try to win."

While "THE 25" is the goal for the year, where the top 25 players after next month's Nationwide Tour Championship graduate to the 2009 PGA TOUR, other players are striving to finish in the top 60 or the top 100 at the end of this week.

Top-60 status will earn a start in the Tour Championship while players ranked 61-100 will retain conditional status. Also, players ranked 26-40 are exempt into the final stage of the PGA TOUR Qualifying School, while those ranked 41-70 avoid the first stage of qualifying school.

First-Round News & Notes: Chris Campbell withdrew before the start of play Thursday after he slammed the trunk of his car on his hand the day before. He was replaced in the field by Randy Leen (72). ... Brad Fritsch (81) withdrew after completing the first round. ... Preferred lies were in effect during the first round. ... Reid Edstrom (71) hit a drive at the fifth hole that measured at 416 yards. The longest drive recorded on Tour was 422 yards by Bubba Watson at the 2004 Gila River Golf Classic. ... Last week's winner, Arjun Atwal (72), began his round with a pair of bogeys. ... Jon Turcott (69), No. 100 on the money list, is tied for seventh. ... Darron Stiles (68) fired the only bogey-free round of the day. ... Alan Morin (72) was 6 over through 11 holes but birdied five of his last seven. ... Marc Leishman (70) had an eagle, birdie, birdie streak on holes 5-7. ... David Morland IV was disqualified for failing to sign his scorecard after round one. ... Scoring average for the first round was 73.231, the highest average of any round in tournament history. ... Nine eagles were scored in the first round, one at the 10th hole and eight at the fifth hole.