Herrmann stays hot, maintains lead at the CRMC Championship

BRAINERD, Minnesota—Alexander Herrmann didn’t tee off until 2:15 p.m., on Friday. By then, Joe Highsmith was putting on quite a show at the CRMC Championship presented by Gertens.

Highsmith shot a 63 for the second straight day to take a clubhouse lead for most of the round. However, Herrmann eventually began his round at Cragun’s Legacy Courses and reclaimed his spot on top, shooting a sterling 62 coming after his opening 61. The 27-year-old from Germany finished at 17-under. He capped things off with an eagle on No. 18 to gain a three-shot lead over Highsmith heading to the weekend.

“Everything’s been working well these last couple of days,” Herrmann said. “Not much to complain about. So, yeah, today was another fun day.”

His 61 is the low score of the season, and Herrmann’s 36-hole total of 123 is easily the best halfway-point score this season. Parker Coody was also at 17-under last week in Manitoba, but he took 127 strokes to get there.

Herrmann had seven birdies and the closing eagle against only one bogey Friday, at No. 10, one of only two bogeys through 36 holes.

If not for Herrmann’s heroics, Highsmith’s back-to-back 63s would look pretty good. It does, actually, with only Herrmann outshining him.

“Crazy” was how Highsmith described his second round of PGA TOUR Canada’s second-to-last full-field event of the season. It’s a good feeling, he said, to be alone in second, at 14-under.

“I actually hit quite a few bad shots over the last couple of days,” said Highsmith, who added that he had some “ridiculous” saves. “I definitely got pretty lucky out there.”

Highsmith acknowledged he has to tighten things up in his game. However, “it’s nice to score well and save those shots when you can.

“I also made a couple of super-long putts today, and I holed a bunker shot out that you’re normally not going to do,” Highsmith said. “So, that was nice. But, yeah, the game feels pretty good.”

So good, in fact, that he dodged trouble a couple of times. Highsmith hit the cart path on No. 2 and the ball went 430 yards. He had to use a 4-iron on a hole where he would normally use a driver and then lay up with a 6-iron. His next shot landed in a bunker, where he connected for an eagle.

“That definitely felt like a steal. I picked up at least two shots there,” Highsmith said.

Over the next hour, Highsmith climbed the leaderboard. He fended off several challenges. Trent Philips (11-under) moved into a tie for fifth with a barrage of birdies. He finished with nine, a season-best seven coming in succession on the back nine.

Gavin Hall, Conner Godsey and Thomas Walsh are all tied for third, at 13-under.

Hall moved up the leaderboard with a round that featured eight birdies. He had a streak of four in a row at one point and finished with a 29 on the front nine.

“I played well. My putter saved me,” Hall said. “I didn’t hit the ball very good. I kind of didn’t have too much control of it. But my putter saved me.”

Two players also shot a hole-in-one in the second round, just adding to the excitement of the day. First, Ryan Gerard sunk one early in his round, hitting a gap wedge 141 yards on No. 15. As he started on the back nine, he would have five more birdies in his round before eventually finishing with a 63 on the day to move up nine spots to T6.