Overnight co-leader Adam Schenk followed up an opening-round 66 with a 69 to take the 36-hole lead at 7-under.
Solo leader in the clubhouse 👏@ASchenk1 sits at 7-under heading to Saturday @ValsparChamp. pic.twitter.com/9YZMaPHMVA
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 17, 2023
He seeks a first career title in his 165th PGA Tour start.,his best finish so far was T3 at the 2021 Shriners Children’s Open.
"It couldn't have went a whole lot better. I feel like a lot of times you play a couple rounds of golf, maybe shoot 2-under, and you're like, it could have been six or seven. But it really couldn't have been a ton better with the amount of putts I made. Just continue that over the weekend, hit our lines.
"We're doing a really good job managing the courses and that's why I've made more cuts this year, which we really made a point to. I mean, if you're showing up at a tournament - I'm not trying to win every tournament, but I don't like missing cuts. So just really making a point to really be above average at course management. I think we've done a good job of that so far this year.
Kramer Hickok carded a second 68 to move into second place at 6-under.
"I've been putting really nice. Really just seeing the lines really well and hitting some good putts. I don't really feel like I'm playing that well tee to green, but just keeping the ball in front of me and really just scoring pretty well.
"I like this golf course a lot. It suits my game. You don't have to have a lot of power, just kind of fetch it around and hit it pretty straight. I like the way I'm sitting right now, but need to go work on the swing a little bit and kind of get back to how it was feeling back on Wednesday and Tuesday."
England's Tommy Fleetwood, the only non-American in the top-5, eagled the par-5 first hole and closed with a 69 for a share of third place at 5-under alongside past champion Jordan Spieth (70), Cody Gribble (65) and Davis Riley (68) who was runner-up last year.
68 - 69 💪@TommyFleetwood1 is ready for the weekend @ValsparChamp. pic.twitter.com/io41m3UY7J
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 17, 2023
"I think today it definitely started to feel like a much more difficult day than yesterday. Even though we had wind yesterday, it felt like the course was pretty playable. I hit it in play a lot. I hit a lot of fairways yesterday, so it always felt like there was a score available, whereas today throughout the day I found it difficult to put it in play off the tee. Not that I was miles off but it just gets so difficult to score from there. So both different days in a way but equally happy with both," said Fleetwood.
Overnight co-leaders Ryan Brehm of the USA and Germany's Stephan Jaeger are currently T26 at 1-under and T7 at 4-under respectively.
Defending champion Sam Burns (USA), who was aiming for a third consecutive win in the event, produced five bogeys and a double bogey. He closed with a 73 and is currently T40.
