Jose Coceras birdied six of the first nine holes he played on Thursday to finish with a nine under par 62 and he has the lead after the first round of the John Deere Classic near the Quad Cities. Vaughn Taylor was one back at eight under, Greg Chalmers from Australiais third at minus-seven. Chalmers says while happy with the round he knows it is early. He says he’s taking it day-by-day as he says this is the best he’s played in the last year to two years. He says he’s attacking it as leveled headed as he can. The player with the best performance this week who has not yet qualified for next week’s British Open will earn a spot. Chalmers did not know that until Thursday and says he would take advantage. He says he’d crawl over broken glass to play at the British Open, and says he had no idea that that was the case with this tournament.Defending champion Vijay Singh finished the opening round at two under.
