Out of the penultimate threesome, World No. 171 Kramer Hickok birdied two of his final three holes toward a 1-under-par 36-33=69 in R4 of the HPE Houston Open, down two spots to solo 4th on 7-under 273, three back of champion Jason Kokrak (65).
The Texas alum, who began in a five-way T2, one back of leader Scottie Scheffler, was birdie-less 2-over thru eight holes (2 bogeys), but steadied to play his final 10 in 3-under, his four circles in total dropping from between 12 and 37 feet. On nine (of 13) fairways and nine greens in regulation, he lost 0.883 strokes tee-to-green but gained a whopping 4.163 with the flat stick, buoyed by two par-savers from between seven and 11 feet. For the week, the 29-year-old posted laps of 67-67-70-69, totaled 16 birdies versus nine bogeys, and ranked 59th (of 67) in SG: Off-the-Tee (-1.840) but top 15 in all other strokes gained categories, including 10th SG: Approach (4.330) and 6th SG: Putting (5.006). This is his first top 10 of the season in six events, and first top 25, and his first top 10 since a career-best P2 as a 54-hole co-leader at last season’s Travelers 10 starts ago, where he lost to Harris English in an epic, 8-hole sudden-death playoff. See link below to post-round comments.