Ames lying 24th at Chrysler Classic

Ames is lying in 24th position, five shots behind the American leader Jeff Brehaut.

World 46th ranked Ames had a bad start with four bogeys on the front nine, at holes two, three, five and nine but got back on track with a vastly improved showing on the back nine, highlighted by four birdies.

With a best showing at the Chrysler event of ninth in 2003, Ames birdied at the 10th, 11th, 16th and 17th holes to finish at his one-under total that brought him back into contention.

Brehaut carded an opening round six-under 65 to grab a two shot lead over five players led by world number four Retief Goosen.

Chasing his first career PGA Tour win, Brehaut mixed an eagle and five birdies with a single bogey at the Westin Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead course, surging top the leaderboard ahead of 2003 champion Goosen and Americans Dean Wilson, Tom Lehman, Ben Crane and Charles Howell III.

World number two and defending champion Vijay Singh, looking to rediscover his form after missing the cut at the Funai tournament last week, stumbled to a three-over 74.

Leaderboard Chrysler Championship— 1 Jeff Brehaut (USA) 65; 2 Dean Wilson (USA) 67; 2 Tom Lehman (USA) 67; 2 Retief Goosen (S.Africa) 67; 2 Ben Crane (USA) 67; 2 Charles Howell III (USA) 67; 24 Stephen Ames (TT) 70.