With preferred lies in effect, World No. 171 Kramer Hickok walked off with bogey but still carded a 3-under-par 35-32=67 in R2 of the HPE Houston Open to post 6-under 134, currently up four spots to T5, four shy of leader Martin Trainer (65).
The Texas native and resident, who also opened with 67, finished T58 here last year as an alternate, where he sandwiched a pair of 68s with a 75 and 73. If he remains in the top 10 at the completion of R2 tomorrow (Saturday), it would be his first time there since last season’s Travelers 10 starts ago, where he was T2 before finishing a career-best P2, losing to winner Harris English in an epic, 8-hole sudden-death playoff after being a 54-hole co-leader (63-69-68-67). Beginning off No. 10 tee, the Texas alum found eight (of 13) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, offsetting two bogeys at holes 4 and 9 (3-putt from 32'3"), with five birdies at 13, 15, 16, 3, and 6 (from 24'6"). At last glance, he eked out a 0.214 SG: Putting and lost 0.538 off-the-tee, but gained 2.502 approaching and 1.492 around. See link below to post-round comments.