BEECHWOOD, Ohio (AP) - Kramer Hickok shot a 3-under 67 on Friday to maintain a one-stroke lead in the DAP Championship, the second of four Web.com Tour Finals events that will determine 25 PGA Tour cards.
One of 25 players who have already earned PGA Tour cards through the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list, Hickok birdied the final two holes at Canterbury Golf Club to reach 10-under 130. He matched the course record Thursday with a 63.
“Anytime you birdie the last couple of holes like I did yesterday, it gives you a lot of confidence moving into the next round,” Hickok said. “Today’s round I struck it just about as good or maybe even better than yesterday. I think I showed a lot of poise and a lot of patience and just kept hitting my putts on a line and kept telling myself they were going to drop until finally they did on the last couple.”
Hickok was 23rd on the regular-season list, and jumped from 23rd to 13th last week in Ohio with a tie for 14th in the series opener. The 26-year-old former Texas player was the 2017 Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada player of the year.
“I think just being there in contention, that’s all you can do,” Hickok said. “I can’t control what anyone else does, I can only control what I do. That’s been my whole goal this week. Someone can go shoot 8 or 9 under, but my goal is to just keep plugging away and put myself in contention to win.”
Germany’s Stephan Jaeger was second after a 65.
“I made a couple of longer putts and hit a lot of greens,” Jaeger said. “Just solid overall. I can’t really pinpoint any aspect of my game that’s better than anything else. I’m driving the ball in the fairway, I’m hitting a lot of greens and making a few putts. Overall it’s just a solid couple of days.”
South Korea’s Sangmoon Bae, a two-time PGA Tour winner, was third at 8 under after a 63. Cameron Champ, sixth on the Web.com regular-season list, had a 66 to match five-time PGA Tour winner Ben Crane (66) and Australia’s Matt Jones (64) at 7 under.
The series features the top 75 players from the Web.com regular-season money list, Nos. 126-200 - Crane was 148th, Jaeger 165th and Bae 207th - in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings; and non-members with enough money to have placed in the top 200.
Hickok, Champ and the other top-25 finishers on the Web.com regular-season money list are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals. The other players are fighting for 25 cards based on series earnings.
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