Golf: Lee in touch in Tahoe

Danny Lee has carded a four-under par 68 at the Montreux Golf and Country Club to be in a share of sixth place. Photo / Getty Images.

New Zealand No.1 Danny Lee has carded a four-under par 68 at the Montreux Golf and Country Club to be in a share of sixth place at the Reno-Tahoe Open on the PGA Tour today (NZT).

The 21-year-old Korean-born Kiwi, who began on the 10th tee, made four birdies and a bogey on his front nine to make the turn in three under and earn seven modified stableford points as the Tahoe event is scored.

The modified stableford system allocates points based on the number of strokes taken at each hole, with the goal of achieving the highest overall score.

The scoring works as follows: a birdie earns two points, an eagle five points, a double eagle eight points, a par earns no points, bogey means a player loses one point and a double bogey or worse means that player loses three points.

The former US amateur champion dropped a modified stableford point on the first hole, his 10th, when he made bogey but responded with birdies on the fourth and the ninth hole to finish on 10 modified stableford points only four points back from Argentine Andres Romero.

Lee in his current position is projected to climb to 146th on the Fed Ex Cup Standings. He needs good results throughout August to climb inside the top 125 players and qualify for the Barclays at the end of the month.

His best result for 2012 is a tie for 15th at the HP Byron Nelson Championship in May.

His other highlights include carding a nine-under par 63 at Pebble Beach and making a hole in one at the Humana Challenge.

Manawatu pro Grant Waite, the only other Kiwi in the field, had a day to forget with an 11-over par 83 which equated to a -12 score in the modified stableford points scoring.

Meantime on the web.com Tour, formerly the Nationwide Tour, another Manawatu pro Tim Wilkinson has carded a four-under par 67 to be tied 30th at the Cox Classic.

Wilkinson, who is currently 54th on the Order of Merit, made two birdies and a bogey on the front nine to make the turn in one-under par at the Champions Run Golf Club in Nebraska.

He made two birdies and a bogey on the back nine before recording an eagle at the par 5 17th to jump into contention.

The former PGA Tour player will begin round two five shots back from three Americans Luke Guthrie, Bubba Dickerson and Aaron Goldberg who opened with rounds of nine-under par 62.

Wilkinson needs to finish in the top 25 on the web.com Tour Order of Merit to get back on the PGA Tour.