UNLV's Anderson leads PGA Tour's First Stage qualifier

Australia's Stephen Allan has been making a pretty decent life for himself on the European Professional Golfers Association Tour.

But Allan knows that to be considered among the best players in the world, he's going to have to make it in America. That's why Allan is at the Dayton Valley Country Club this week competing in the PGA Tour's First Stage qualifying event.

Despite struggling through Thursday's third round in which he shot a 2-over-par 74, Allan was still well on his way to making it to the second stage of PGA qualifying. Allan was tied for fifth with a 6-under 210 after three rounds.

In the wind and rain, former UNLV standout Jeremy Anderson was still able to shoot a 64, missing the course record by one stroke. Anderson leads the tournament with a 14-under 202 heading into today's final round.

Bobby Elliott of Plano, Texas was in second, three strokes behind Anderson at 11-under. Former University of Nevada standout Justin Peters was in good shape to advance to the PGA qualifying's second stage.

Peters fired a 70 in the third round and stood in a tie for 16th with a three-round total of 1-under 215. The top 23 finishers will advance to the PGA qualifying's second stage.

This is Allan's second attempt to make the PGA tour. Last year, he made it past the first stage at Seaside, Cal., but couldn't make it past the second stage.

"There's no messing around there," said Allan about the second stage. "You really need to play well. You really can't afford not to play well at the second stage."

Allan summed up his third round by saying: "Terrible. I haven't been driving the ball well all week. Today it caught up with me."

He said he had received some "lucky breaks" during the first two rounds. If not for his putting, Allan said, his third round could have been worse.

"I made a few good par save putts, which was nice," he said. "I would have racked up a big score."

"If I can drive a little bit better, hopefully it will be no problem getting through. Knock wood," said Allan about making the second stage.

Allan said Dayton is a challenging course. "It's a pretty good test," he said. "It gives you a good chance to score well if the wind isn't blowing. With the greens so fast, there's a lot of difficult holes."

Allan is in 59th place on the European PGA Tour. "I wouldn't be destroyed about playing in Europe the rest of my life," Allan said. "But there's no doubt the U.S. is the best place to be.

"I think it's the biggest and best tour. You've got to aspire to be the best and compete with the best players."