Three abreast atop Pine to Palm first day of qualifying

Three golfers share the lead at the Pine to Palm after day one of qualifying, with all three sharing a connection to defending champion Ian Simonich. The trio includes two current North Dakota State University teammates, and a former Spud.

Bison teammates Nate Adams and Nate Deziel took the lead in the early half of tee times, along with former Moorhead (2009) grad and University of Arizona’s Nick Olsgaard, who made a charge late in the afternoon session.

Adams, a sophomore at NDSU, leads the tournament with nine birdies in his first round. Adams was the runner-up to Andrew Israelson at the Birchmont in Bemidji to start the Resort Circuit of tournaments in a rematch of the 2019 Pine to Palm championship match.

Deziel and Olsgaard each had six birdies on the scorecard to force the three-way tie and hold a one stroke advantage over Tony Vincelli, the sole holder of a 4-under par round 67.

Dylan Naylor of Orem, Utah and Brady Holland of Big Lake, Minnesota share a tie for fifth place at -3.

Andre Proctor of Chandler, Arizona, Brady Raph of Pine River, Minnesota, and Koby Kuenzel of Grand Forks all finished at -2.

In total, 17 players of the field of 183 golfers shot below par, including last year’s medalist Lucas Johnson, another NDSU golfer, at -1.

A dozen golfers sit at even par, including former champion Connor Holland, qualifying low score record holder Will Czeh, and a pair of golfers with local ties in Michael Herzog and Adam McArthur.

Recognizable names to tournament veterans litter a group of another dozen golfers at 1-over par. Former champions Rich Kuhn and Ben Welle, along with former Bemidji State standout Cody Cook, local favorite Tanner Lane, Ryan Steinert, among others.

Mid-Am qualifying was completed Tuesday with Mississippi’s Scott Uithoven securing his fourth medalist honor since 2014.

Uithoven is one of three golfers to win two Pine to Palm Mid-Am titles, along with Jay Olafson and Kent Spriggs. Perry Piatz is the only golfer to win three at Mid-Am (2013, 2017-18). He secured the final qualifying spot in the round of 16.

Seniors qualifying continues Wednesday. Keith Aasen, the 2015 Seniors champion and 2016 runner-up, leads with the only round under par at -1.

Dan Elton was the Super Seniors medalist at even par, five strokes better than the rest of the field. Elton is a two-time Seniors medalist.

Championship qualifying wraps up Wednesday with the top 64 making the cut for match play. Nearly 50 (47) golfers won’t be golfing in the second round after succumbing to a cut of 8-over par 79.

• Live leaderboards and tee times are available on the web , or on the Golf Genius fee phone app with the sign-in GGID of P2P89.

Read more Pine to Palm stories from this year's tournament by Robert Williams here .