Tom Hoge couldn’t keep pace with Joaquin Niemann atlast week’s A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, but now finds himself atop the leaderboard in the second event of the PGA TOUR season.
Hoge, who finished second to Niemann on Sunday, shot a bogey-free 64 on Thursday to lead the Sanderson Farms Championship before first-round play was suspended due to weather. Hoge temporarily tied Niemann at The Greenbrier’s Old White TPC after making birdie on the 12th hole. Hoge bogeyed on two of his next three holes, though, and Niemann made six back-nine birdies to win by six strokes.
Hoge finished alone in second to earn 300 FedExCup points. It was his best finish in 134 career PGA TOUR starts. He couldn’t have capped off Thursday’s round in better fashion, holing a 46-footer for birdie to shoot a bogey-free 64.
South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli hit 8 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens in regulation on Thursday and needed a great back nine recovery from a poor start to finish at -1.
Frittelli opened with a birdie on the 10th but dropped three shots to sit well off the pace. He responded with three birdies in his first holes holes on the front side to get himself back on track. A birdie at his 17th hole undid the damage of a bogey at the par 3 seventh as he signed for a 71.
