Geary In Top Gear At CanTour's Janes Rogers

Geary holds a one-stroke lead over George Bradford and Montreal Open winner Graham DeLaet. Ryan Yip, Luke Swilor, Michael Gligic and Ben Ferguson each shot 66's while Garrett Frank, Luke Hickmott, Jim Seki, Tim Wood, Alex Coe, Andy Walker and Canadians Wes Heffernan and Adam Short rfecorded rounds of 67.

By John Berkovich
Media Director - Canadian Tour

"I got off to a good start and made a few putts out there today," said Geary. "I haven't played much the last two weeks but I got it around all right.

"The putter was pretty sharp; most of the putts I made were around 10 feet but I hit a couple pretty close.

"The rough is really up so you really have to make fairways and greens. Around here you won't hit too many drivers and I was fortunate to hit some good shots.

Geary came into this event feeling refreshed and ready for the final three events of the season.

"After having some time off, I went out there with no real expectations," continued Geary.

"I basically put the clubs in the closet and came out here yesterday, played a few holes and that was it. I think the time off - including not playing Montreal last week - has really helped me a lot."

George Bradford is in familiar territory after his first trip around Lakeview. His 65 leaves him one off the pace.

"I played very solid today," said Bradford. "I actually didn't hit the ball that well off the tee but was fortunate to get some good lies in the rough."

Bradford eagled seven and followed it with a chip-in for birdie at No. 8 on what is once again proving to be a testy layout.

"This course is in great condition and is tougher than it looks," he concluded.

Ben Ferguson, who won the 2000 MTS Classic but was forced to endure Monday qualifying, was impressed with his 66.

"It felt good to play well," he said. ""This course is tight and you have to keep it in the fairway, which I did.

"I think if I put together three more rounds like that I'll be in a very good position come Sunday."

Although he opened with a 69, Kris Wasylowich admitted he didn't have his best stuff.

"Considering I was in the rough on 11 of the 14 par-four holes, I'd say it was a pretty good day," said the Calgary native.

"I was fortunate that the putter was working well today."

Australian's Clint Rice also began his week with a 69 to sit five back.

"I didn't play all that bad considering the last two holes are the best and the toughest closing holes we played all year," said the 2008 Spring Q-School medalist.

Like most players this week, Rice discovered that Lakewood can be quite misleading at first glance.

"You look at the scorecard and the yardage and you figure you're going tear it up. You then get out there and realize how deceiving it is with the rough and the tight fairways."

"You have to position your ball in just the right part of the fairway to score" he continued.

"Then when you get to the greens it becomes a real struggle."

The projected cut is one over par 71 heading into the second round.

Round One - Janes Rogers Championship
Lakeview Golf Course - Mississauga, Ontario

Josh Geary 64
George Bradford 65
Ryan Yip 66
Ben Ferguson 66
Luke Swilor 66
Michael Gligic 66
Garrett Frank 67
Luke Hickmott 67
Tim Wood 67
Wes Heffernan 67
Alex Coe 67
Adam Short 67
Jim Seki 67
Andy Walker 67
Ryan Horn 68
Brian Unk 68
Lee Williamson 68
DJ Fiese 68
John Lieber 68
John Ellis 68
Mark Leon 68
Manuel Villegas 68
Kris Wasylowich 69
Liam Kendregan 69
Marc Peterson 69
So Kobayashi 69
Craig Hicks 69
Troy Merritt 69
James Love 69
Adam Speirs 69
Richard Scott 69
Ryan Williams 69
James Hahn 69
Kevin Kim 69
Matt Fonner 69
Randy Lowry III 70
Troy Kelly 70
Dong Yi 70
Byron Smith 70
Russell Surber 70
Tom Stankowski 70
Josh Habig 70
Ian Doig 70
Danny King 70
Chris Wall 70
Jose Trauwitz 70
Richard Gilkey 70
Matt Daniel 70
Keven Fortin-Simard 70
Kwangsoo Yoon 70
Richard Lee 70
Ryan Carter 71
Adam Bland 71
Clayton Rask 71
Ben Bunny 71
Scott Ford 71
Brian Benedictson 71
Kent Eger 71
Ryan Cairns 71
Winn Smith 71
Ryan Cairns 71
Andrew Parr 71
Barrett Jarosch 71
Derek Gillespie 71
Dustin Risdon 71
Stuart Anderson 71
Scott Hawley 71
Mark Kitts 71
Yohann Benson 71
Tyler Erickson 71
Conner Robbins 72
Rob Oppenheim 72
Brent Schwarzrock 72
Casey Watabu 72
Jason Moon 72
Mitch Tasker 72
Michael Nicoletti 72
Eric Couture 72
Greg Machtaler 72
Walt Keating 72
Craig Matthew 72
Peter Laws 72
Mitchell Gillis 72
Danny Sahl 72
Joe Lanza 72
Mike Mezei 72
Brandon Kearney 72
Jeffrey Rangel 72
Matt Johnston 72
Vinnie Poncino 72
Mathieu Rivard 72
Robert Hamilton 73
Michael Wilson 73
Doug Batty 73
Darren Fletcher 73
Tommy Barber 73
Greg McAuley 73
Ryan Thornberry 74
Mike Sica 74
Dwayne Pearman 74
John Colyar 74
Dave Levesque 74
Taylor Wood 74
Wil Collins 74
Jim Lemon 74
Mike Grob 74
Eugene Smith 74
Shawn Jasper 74
John Cassidy 74
Bob Niger 74
Craig Scott 75
Scott Gibson 75
Daniel Im 75
Hidemichi Haginomori 75
Ben Fox 75
JC Deacon 75
Will Mitchell 75
Nick Manfre 75
Jason Anthony 75
Justin Snelling 75
Stephen Dixon 75
Federico Garcia 75
Derek Oakey 75
Joe Horowitz 75
Justin Whitlock 75
Ryan Camp 76
Eric Wang 76
Kyle Monfort 76
Justin Madison 76
Torey Edwards 76
Dale Vallely 76
Graham Baillargeon (a) 76
Lindsay Bernakevitch 76
Justin Itzen 76
Andreas Johnsson 76
Yuji Makino 76
Justin Smith 76
Andrew Jensen 77
Drew Stoltz 77
Michael Choi 77
Pan Singhaseni 77
Conor O'Shea 78
Andres Gonzales 78
Jeff Lai 78
Zach Doran 78
Hoyt McGarity 79
Greg Doherty (a) 79
Mitchell Fox 81