(Reuters) – Tom Hoge remained tied for the lead with three other players at the halfway point of the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, on Friday to keep his hopes of a maiden PGA Tour victory alive.
The overnight co-leader shot a second-round two-under 68 to sit atop the leaderboard with fellow Americans Talor Gooch and Billy Horschel and South Korea’s Kim Si-woo at 10-under 130 heading into the weekend.
The 31-year-old Hoge struggled with his accuracy off the tee at times during the second round and said he needed to be better around the greens if he is going to claim his breakthrough victory.
“I’d say more than anything, I need to just hole a few key putts at the right time,” he said.
“Those eight, 10-footers for par that keep the momentum going … and get lucky at the right time, too.”
Hoge shared the lead at the tournament in 2015 with Tiger Woods after 36 holes.
The four leaders are a stroke clear of Americans Harris English, Andrew Landry, Doc Redman and Harold Varner III in addition to Ireland’s Shane Lowry, who fired a second-round 63 to climb 37 places on the leaderboard.
Lowry is currently ranked 131 in the FedEx Cup standings and will need a strong performance this weekend to qualify for next week’s Northern Trust at TPC Boston and the Tour Championship at East Lake, which has a field of 30.
“It was nice to go out there and shoot a good score
today,” he said.
“It’s kind of the best score I’ve shot in a while and I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
World number seven Brooks Koepka and world number 17 Justin Rose were among the players who failed to make the cut.
Due to anticipated weather on Saturday, players will be grouped in threes for the third round and tee off from the first and 10th holes at the Sedgefield Country Club, the PGA said.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
