LITCHFIELD PARK, Arizona—Cooper Dossey last made a bogey at the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament on the 11th hole of the first round. It's been 43 consecutive holes touring around The Wigwam without a bogey for the Baylor University graduate, and that explains why Dossey, in his second year as a professional, is on the verge of earning PGA TOUR-affiliated Tour status for the first time. Dossey shot his second consecutive 66 Thursday, he is the only player in the field with three sub-70 rounds and he holds a five-shot lead over David Snyder with 18 holes to play. Max Marsico is six back, and Aaron Beverly is a distant seven behind.  

“I’m just really excited with how I’m hitting the ball right now,” Dossey said. “I haven’t hit it this well in my whole career. It’s pretty awesome.”

While he’s still quibbling over the speed of his putts, especially on his longer ones, Dossey admitted it’s been hard to find much fault with his play this week, which started with a 4-under 68 followed by a pair of 66s. He hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation Thursday.

“I’m just giving myself a ton of chances,” Dossey added. “All of my putts were inside 25 feet. You’re not supposed to make them all, and I’m really happy with how I played today. I think I’m being a little hard on myself.”

Dossey’s front-nine birdies came at Nos. 1, 5 and 9. He then settled into a streak of five pars in succession to start his final nine. “I had a stretch where I made a lot of pars. But I stayed patient and waited to get my run, which I got at the end.”

His “run” started at No. 14, the first of back-to-back birdies. Then after a par at No. 16, he stuck his approach on the par-4 17th to five feet and rolled it in for a third birdie in four holes. Dossey just missed a 20-foot birdie effort on the closing hole to sign for the 66.

Snyder kept in shouting distance of Dossey, thanks to a bogey-free 68 that included a six-foot birdie on the last hole.

“It was nice to finish with a birdie on that hole,” the Stanford product explained. “It’s always a tricky hole. It was a good finish there, and I’ll try to carry it into [Friday].”

The threesome of Dossey, Snyder and Marsico will play together again in Friday’s final round, teeing off at 1 p.m.

Did you know Sudarshan Yellamarju was born in Visakhapatnam, India, but grew up in Winnipeg, Canada? The building where his father worked overlooked a golf course, piquing Yellamarju’s interest in the sport. Yellamarju also holds conditional PGA TOUR Latinoamerica membership this year.