BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Bernhard Langer erased any doubt not long after his nearest challenger had all but conceded.

Langer ran away with the Regions Tradition on Sunday for his sixth senior major and 27th PGA Tour Champions title. He birdied the final three holes and five of seven to pull away for a six-stroke victory over Olin Browne, who had already predicted that “nobody’s running down Berhnard.” The 58-year-old German finished with a 5-under 67 at Greystone for a 17-under 271 total.

Langer matched Gary Player and Tom Watson with the third-most major championships on the 50-and-over-tour, behind Hale Irwin’s seven and Jack Nicklaus’s eight. He opened the day with a four-stroke lead, lost a couple of strokes and closed emphatically with the birdie binge.

Langer could become the first player to win all five of the current senior majors if he wins the Senior PGA Championship next week.

“It’s just an amazing feeling to win any tournament, but to win the majors against the best players on tough venues and good courses just means that much more,” Langer said. He called it his 100th victory as a professional, “and to do it in a major means even more.”

Browne made a 6-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 67. Tommy Armour III, Joey Sindelar and Kirk Triplett finished at 10 under.

It was the lowest score at the Tradition since Fred Funk finished with a 269 in 2008 at Oregon. It was also the largest margin of victory since Doug Tewell won by nine in 2001.

Browne closed with a six-foot birdie putt for a 67 but some near-misses on the greens helped keep him from challenging Langer at the end. Langer came in with the tour’s lowest scoring average and still hasn’t finished worse than 11th this year.

“He’s as fit as he’s ever been,” Browne said. “They’ve tried to ruin his putting by taking away the long putter and he’s not letting that happen. He’s still putting great. He’s just a consummate course management guy. He absolutely refuses to give an inch. He charts the course better than anybody else, he plays to his strengths and he’s tenacious.”

That was certainly true Sunday.

Langer saved par with a 20-footer upslope on No. 4 after his tee shot rolled into the water, forcing him to take a drop. The normally stoic German raised both arms in the air and then pumped his right fist celebrating the shot – more of a reaction than when he polished off a win that hadn’t really been in doubt for a while.

“That was key to keep the momentum going,” Langer said. He opened with a 5-foot birdie putt on the first hole but said his most consistent success came off the tee.

“I drove the ball phenomenal,” Langer said. “I can’t recall hitting every fairway for 36 holes in a row, and I’ve done that, I think. I don’t think I was in the rough once the last two days, which is pretty unique.

“I think that was key to the victory. My putter was hot and cold. My irons were hot and cold, but the driver was really the outstanding club. It didn’t let me down, not one time the last few days.”

Armour closed with a 66 with birdies on five of the last six holes while Sindelar and Triplett each had 68s.

John Daly finished at 5 under with a closing 74 after three straight rounds below par. He hit a sprinkler head on No. 10, but did finish with a crowd-pleasing eagle on 18.

“The guy says two shots of Crown on a putt like that, I’m usually going to make one of those,” Daly said. “If it’s for Crown, I’m making it.”

The 70-year-old Irwin bested his age with a 69. He finished 14 over for the tournament, though, including an 80 on Saturday.

GREER, S.C. – Richy Werenski won the BMW Charity Pro-Am on Sunday for his first Web.com Tour title, finishing with his second straight 6-under 65 for a two-stroke victory.

Werenski, the 24-year-old former Georgia Tech player who won the Golf Channel’s “Big Break” series last year, birdied the par-5 15th and 16th holes and closed with two pars at the Thornblade Club. He finished the three-course event at 21-under 265.

“I feel the same as I usually feel. It hasn’t set in,” said Werenski, based in Bluffton, South Carolina. “I knew if I went out there and played solid, that’s all you can do. I’ve learned my last two tournaments that it’s either your day or it’s not.”

Werenski made $121,500 to jump from seventh to second on the money list with $258,958 – more than enough to earn a PGA Tour as a top-25 finisher in the regular season. He tied for second this season in the Club Colombia and El Bosque Mexico championships.

“This is a totally different year than last year. I was fighting to get through the reshuffles. And now this year I can go out and keep playing and tallying up the money. I’ve got my PGA TOUR card, but my goal is to be No. 1 on the money list. I want to be fully exempt for next year.”

Zack Sucher (65), Brian Campbell (66) and Brett Drewitt (66) tied for second. Third-round leader Brandon Hagy (69) was fifth at 18 under.

On the par-4 18th, Werenski drove into the left rough and hit his approach over the green. He chipped to 2 feet to set up the winning par putt.

“I tried my best not to look at a scoreboard until the very end, and I can say I did that until 18,” Werenski said. “That’s something my coach told us at Georgia Tech – scoreboard watching brings in way too many variables. And you don’t’ want to pay attention to that, so I didn’t really know where I stood.”

Phil Mickelson never saw a shot he didn’t think he could hit.

Part of his massive popularity in golf is the high-risk nature with which he attacks the game. When he won his third Masters in 2010, the signature shot was a 6-iron between a gap in the Georgia pines that barely cleared a tiny tributary of Rae’s creek and settled 5 feet from the hole.

It’s the high risk off the golf course that could pose problems.

Mickelson’s association with Las Vegas gambler Billy Walters brought him the wrong kind of attention Thursday.

Federal authorities named Mickelson as a relief defendant in a civil suit that accuses Walters and Thomas Davis, a former corporate board member at Dean Foods, of insider trading that allowed them to make tens of millions of dollars in illicit stock trades.

Mickelson was not charged. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges he only benefited from the misdeeds of others. He agreed to repay (with interest) the $931,000 he made in a single trade of Dean Foods in the summer of 2012.

“Simply put, Mickelson made money that wasn’t his to make,” said Andrew Ceresney, the SEC’s head of the enforcement division.

“Phil was an innocent bystander to alleged wrongdoing by others that he was unaware of,” said Gregory Craig, one of Mickelson’s lawyers.

Here’s a timeline from 2012 contained in the complaint:

– Walters called Mickelson on July 27 and they exchanged texts over the next two days.

– Mickelson bought $2.4 million of Dean Foods shares on July 30 and July 31 in three brokerage accounts. The SEC says he had less than $250,000 in those accounts, had not been a frequent trader and had never bought Dean Foods stock.

– Dean Foods announced second-quarter earnings and the spinoff of subsidiary White Wave Foods after the market closed Aug. 7.

– The stock price went up 40 per cent the next day, and Mickelson sold all the shares he had bought for a $931,000 profit.

Perhaps more troublesome is the SEC allegation that Mickelson had placed bets with Walters prior to the tip, he owed Walters money at the time of the trading and that he repaid Walters a month later “in part with the proceeds of his trading.”

That raises some uncomfortable questions.

How much did Mickelson owe Walters? If he placed bets with Walter, what were they for?

The complaint has the attention of the PGA Tour, which has a section in its player handbook under “Conduct of Players” related to gambling. One part says that a player shall not “associate with or have dealings with persons whose activities, including gambling, might reflect adversely upon the integrity of the game of golf.”

“That’s something we’re in the process of looking at and determining,” tour spokesman Ty Votaw said.

Two years ago at the Memorial, two FBI agents approached Mickelson after his first round to talk to him about Walters during an insider trading investigation. Mickelson said that week he had been co-operating, that he had done nothing wrong and that he hoped in the future he would be able to discuss it.

He wasn’t talking Thursday.

Instead, his management company released a statement that said Mickelson felt “vindicated” because the SEC complaint does not say he violated any securities laws. It also said Mickelson did not want to benefit from a transaction the SEC viewed as questionable, so he was returning the money.

And it referenced the standards of his corporate partners who pay him millions in endorsements.

“He subscribes to the same values and regrets any appearance that, on this occasion, he fell short,” it said. “He takes full responsibility for the decisions and associations that led him to becoming part of this investigation.”

According to Golf Digest, Mickelson earned approximately $52 million on and off the golf course last year.

The statement said Mickelson appreciates that his sponsors are staying with him.

ExxonMobil and Barclays declined comment. KPMG said while disappointed by the SEC announcement, Mickelson’s statement “makes clear he respects and shares” the company’s values.

What next?

Mickelson often is referred to as the “People’s Choice” for his relationship with the fans. He treats them well. He takes time for them. His philanthropy is off the charts, whether it’s a teacher’s academy with ExxonMobile, paying for school supplies for the underprivileged or providing college education for wounded and fallen soldiers.

That might be enough to get him through his latest bad lie, this one not anywhere near a golf course.

Grâce à la paire québécoise formée d’Hugo Bernard et Joey Savoie, Saint Leo est le nouveau champion universitaire américain de la NCAA, Division II.

En finale samedi, les Lions ont eu le dessus par la marque de 3 et 2 devant Chico State dans un autre match serré.

Saint Leo avait eu le dernier mot en demi-finale au total des coups vendredi après avoir divisé 2,5 à 2,5 face à Lynn.

Ce titre est celui de la logique pour Saint Leo, qui avait terminé premier des sélections de 54 trous menant au volet éliminatoire.

Membre d’Équipe Canada et entraîné par Daniel Langevin, Hugo Bernard a remporté ses trois rencontres.

La semaine en fut une inoubliable pour le gaucher de Laval-sur-le-Lac, précédemment couronné champion individuel suite à des cartes de 65, 66 et 72 pour un combiné de -13.

Ce gradué d’André-Laurendeau avait précédemment mérité les trophées Arnold Palmer (voté par les entraîneurs), Phil Mickelson (meilleure recrue) en plus d’être nommé à la formation «All American». Il faut maintenant ajouter celui en équipe à sa rutilante collection.

Onzième lors des sélections, Joey Savoie, de Pinegrove, a aussi fait sa large part dans la situation victorieuse des siens avec deux gains.

Ce titre national représente une première au golf  pour l’Université Saint Leo.

IRVING, Texas – Brooks Koepka overcame two early bogeys and the huge shadow of playing alongside Jordan Spieth in his home event, shooting a 5-under 65 on Saturday to take the lead into the final round of the Byron Nelson.

Koepka was at 16-under 194 to match the best 54-hole score at the Nelson and put him two strokes ahead of Spieth.

Koepka took the lead with a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 14. That was the same hole where Spieth hit his drive into the water, had to punch into the fairway and then drained a 23-foot bogey putt in his round of 67.

Spieth played his first PGA Tour event at the Nelson as a 16-year-old amateur six years ago. He is now the world’s No. 2-ranked player and the crowd favourite. His image is everywhere, including the 8,000 bobbleheads given away Saturday.

Matt Kuchar (65), Bud Cauley (68) and Sergio Garcia (68) were tied for third at 13 under.

Canada’s Adam Hadwin shot a 69 and dropped five spots into a tie for 13th. The Abbotsford, B.C. native is 9 under for the tournament.

Playing in the final threesome with Spieth and second-round leader Ben Crane, Koepka hit his first drive way left on the way to an opening bogey. There were birdies at Nos. 3 and 5, but Koepka followed with another bogey at No. 6 when he hit his first two shots into the rough.

But Koepka played bogey-free the rest of the day and took over as the lead with a birdie at the difficult 405-yard 14th hole. Spieth made the long putt to keep that hole from being worse right after his first par this week at the par-3 13th, where he had after three-putted for bogey each of the first two days.

At 26, Koepka is four years older than Spieth but has only one win (Phoenix in 2015) in his 54 previous PGA Tour starts.

Crane, who turned 40 in March, shot 72 and dropped to 10 under and in a tie for 11th. He is looking for his first victory in 48 starts since winning at Memphis two years ago in what also was his last top-10 finish.

Garcia was 15 under and with the outright lead after his fourth birdie of the round, and second in a row, when he made a 25-foot at No. 8, a 463-yard par 4. But the 36-year-old Spaniard, the 2004 Nelson champion, then three-putted from nearly 60 feet at the 9th hole before missing the fairway with his drive at No. 10 and being unable to make a 9-foot par save before pars on his last eight holes.

That second bogey came about the same time Spieth, in the final group right behind him, made a 9-foot birdie at the 416-yard No. 9 to get to 14 under for the lead.

This is Garcia’s 61st PGA Tour start since his last win in 2012, his first at TPC Four Seasons in that span.

Spieth is playing the Nelson for the sixth time, the fourth as a professional. The Dallas native’s best finish was a tie for 16th as a 16-year-old in 2010, when he was tied for seventh after the third round _ his best 54-hole showing until now.

Since playing at the Nelson that first time, and then the following year missing his high school graduation ceremony after making the cut again, the only year he missed playing Lord Byron’s tournament was in 2012, when he was at the University of Texas and the Longhorns were NCAA champions. As a pro, he had never been better than tied for 18th going into the final round and hasn’t finished better than a tie for 30th last year.

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Ariya Jutanugarn moved into position for her second straight LPGA Tour victory Saturday, shooting a bogey-free 6-under 65 to take the third-round lead in the Kingsmill Championship.

The 20-year-old Jutanugarn had three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the front nine on the soggy River Course and birdied three of the last six. She’s coming off a victory two weeks ago in Alabama that made her the first Thai winner in LPGA Tour history.

Jutanugarn had a 10-under 203 total.

Second-round leader So Yeon Ryu bogeyed the final hole to drop a stroke back along with fellow South Korean player In Gee Chun and Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum.

Ranked 11th in the world but sixth in the race for the four spots on South Korea’s Olympic team, Ryu shot a 69.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson, of Smiths Falls, Ont., is well back in a tie for 43rd after shooting a 71 in her third round.

Chun had a 62 to tie the course record set by Jiyai Shin in 2012. The U.S. Women’s Open champion is eighth in the world and fourth in the South Korean Olympic race.

Phatlum shot a 65.

Defending champion Minjee Lee was 8 under after a 68. The 19-year-old Australian won last year at Kingsmill in a Monday finish and added her second tour title last month in Hawaii.

Laetitia Beck (66) and sixth-ranked Amy Yang (69) also were 8 under.

Fourth-ranked Stacy Lewis, a stroke behind Ryu after a second-round 66, had a 70 to fall into a tie for eighth at 8 under. Lewis tied for second two weeks ago in Alabama for her 10th runner-up finish in a 49-event drought. The 11-time tour winner has 23 career second-place finishes.

Third-ranked Lexi Thompson had a 67 to move into a tie for 18th at 5 under. She’s coming off a victory two weeks ago on the Japan LPGA.

Top-ranked Lydia Ko was tied for 24th at 4 under after a 68. The 19-year-old New Zealander won the Kia Classic and major ANA Inspiration in consecutive weeks in Southern California.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Bernhard Langer surged to a four-stroke lead Saturday in the Regions Tradition.

A stroke behind leader Kenny Perry entering the round, Langer shot a 3-under 69 to move to 12-under 204 in the first PGA Tour Champions major of the year – while Perry and others stumbled at Greystone.

The 58-year-old Langer won the Chubb Classic in February for his 26th victory on the 50-and-over tour.

Perry held the lead after each of the first two rounds but had a double bogey on the opening hole on his way to a 74. He and Scott McCarron, who shot a 72, were tied for second place going into the final round.

John Daly was among five players at 7 under after a 69. Playing in his second PGA Tour Champions event, the two-time major winner had a double bogey, two bogeys, an eagle and five birdies.

MILTON, Ga. – Laura Wearn won the Gosling’s Dark ‘n Stormy Classic on Saturday for her first Symetra Tour title, and Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom was second to break the season money record.

Wearn led after all three rounds, closing with an even-par 72 for a 6-under 210 total at Atlanta National Golf Club. She birdied the par-5 18th after dropping strokes on 12, 13 and 17.

“This win means the world to me, I’m just so excited,” Wearn said. “I haven’t really been that close before so to win the first time I am in contention is really cool. Hopefully, I can take what I learned from this experience and win a few more this year. … It gives me confidence that I can compete out here and that every week is truly an opportunity to win. Confidence is definitely the main thing the win does for me.”

The 25-year-old former Furman player made $15,000 to jump from 72nd to 17th on the money list with $18,592, with the top 10 at the end of the season earning LPGA Tour cards. She missed most of last season after back surgery.

“It was a tough process and it was frustrating that I had to miss most of last year,” Wearn said. “Everyone told me that it takes a long time to come back, but you’ll get there eventually and to win just over a year after surgery is awesome. I definitely didn’t think I’d come back that quickly.”

Sagstrom birdied the 18th for a 70 to finish a stroke back. The 23-year-old former LSU player earned $9,467 to push her seven-event total to $103,181. Cindy LaCrosse set the previous mark of $94,578 in 2010.

“I don’t play to win, I don’t play to lose, I play to get better and I got a lot better today and that is all I am focusing on,” Sagstrom said. “Of course it is nice to set a record, but I am just trying to get better every day.”

She has two victories this season, one short of an immediate LPGA Tour promotion, and six top-five finishes.

Wearn opened with a bogey, made a double bogey on the second hole and birdied the third.

“I was pretty nervous off the first tee and I chunked my tee shot,” Wearn said. “I had trouble on 2 also, but on 3 I hit a great shot and made the birdie and that settled me down. I kept telling myself that it is a long day.”

She eagled the par-5 ninth and birdied Nos. 10 and 11.

“I hit two great shots on nine and made the putt and on ten I did the same thing,” Wearn said. “On 11, I drained probably a 40-footer so that was awesome when it went in. I was honestly not expecting it at all. I was just trying to two-putt.”

Kristy McPherson (71) and Prima Thammaraks (75) tied for third at 3 under. Casey Kennedy (70) and Hye-Min Kim (72) followed at 2 under, and Kendall Dye (72), Erica Popson (73), Dottie Ardina (69) and Wichanee Meechai were 1 under.

Augusta James of Bath, Ont., carded a final round 74 and ended up with a share of 11th.

IRVING, Texas – For Jordan Spieth, it only seems as if it has been a while since he topped a leaderboard. For Ben Crane, it actually had been.

Crane shot a 7-under 63 on Friday at the Byron Nelson to take the second-round lead at 12-under 128. He was one stroke ahead of a quartet of players that included Spieth, playing only his second tournament since squandering a five-stroke lead on the back nine when trying to win his second consecutive Masters.

Spieth was alone in the lead for a bit while playing in the morning, but after finishing his round of 65 was tied at the top with Brooks Koepka (64) and Bud Cauley (65). First-round co-leader Sergio Garcia also joined them after a 66 later in the day.

“It hasn’t been that long,” said Spieth, speaking before Crane’s afternoon round. “The Masters felt like it was quite a while ago and that’s why it almost feels like, that’s why I’m getting the questions, ‘Was it nice to have your name back on top?’ Well, I mean (it was) two tournaments ago.”

Canada’s Adam Hadwin is four shots back and tied for eighth. The Abbotsford, B.C., native birdied two of his last three holes to finish with a 66. Fellow Canadians Graham DeLaet, of Weyburn, Sask., and Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont., are projected to miss the cut.

The last time Crane had led a tournament was going wire-to-wire to win at Memphis two years ago, the last of his five PGA Tour victories and his last top-10 finish. This is his 48th tournament since.

Crane, who turned 40 in March, took the lead after six birdies in an eight-hole stretch during the afternoon, including a 70-footer from a greenside bunker at the par-4 third hole, his 12th of the day, to get to 10 under for the tournament. He initially took the outright lead with a 3-foot birdie putt at the par-4 sixth.

“I’ve been struggling really for three years now, but intermittent bits of encouragement,” Crane said. “This has been one of those weeks where I feel like my game is really coming around.”

His only bogey came on his 17th hole Friday, the 463-yard eighth hole where his first two shots found the primary rough before his 16-foot par chance curled under the cup. Crane had two-putted from 50 feet on the previous hole to save par, and regained the outright lead with his final stroke of the day, a 14-foot birdie putt to match the best 36-hole score at Lord Byron’s tournament.

“A great way to finish and just kind of good continuation of all the good stuff that was happening throughout the day,” Crane said.

After the Masters last month, Spieth didn’t play again until missing the cut last week at The Players Championship. The Dallas native and world’s No. 2-ranked player is now at TPC Four Seasons, where he played his first PGA Tour event as a 16-year-old amateur six years ago and finished in a tie for 16th, still the best of his five previous starts there.

Spieth has hit 33 of 36 greens so far, and the only one he missed Friday was No. 9, his final hole of the day. He pitched to 11 feet and saved par.

“I still got pretty frustrated at times because I would have a really good wedge number … that should be within 10 feet all day,” he said. “With the size of the greens, my misses are still holding the greens. I’ve had so many 40-footers out here I’ve managed to get in in two putts.”

Spieth made the turn after three consecutive birdies, two-putting from 45 feet at the par-5 16th and rolling in a 35-footer at the par-3 17th. A 30-foot birdie try at No. 2 curled just under the hole, and a 45-foot eagle chance at the par-5 7th hole stopped just short. His only bogey Friday was a three-putt at the par-3 13th, the same as in his opening 64.

Even without feeling like he’s playing his best golf, Spieth has had consecutive rounds in the mid-60s.

“Great sign,” Spieth said.

D.A. Points had nine birdies and a bogey through 13 holes in his second round, then parred the last five holes to finish a round of 62, the best round of the day and nine strokes better than his first round.

Defending champion Steven Bowditch shot 70 on Friday and just made the cut at 2-under 138. The Australian who lives in North Texas had missed the cut in his five previous tournaments, and seven of the last nine.

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Through 36 holes of the Web.com Tour’s BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX Corporation, Cheng Tsung Pan and Matt Fast sit tied for the lead at 13-under 130.

Fast entered Friday’s second round with a share of the first-round lead, following an 8-under 63 at tournament host Thornblade Club on Thursday.

At The Reserve at Lake Keowee, the former Mississippi State golfer kept his momentum intact, posting six birdies en route to a 5-under 67 – good for a 13-under 130 tally and the outright lead for all of one hour before Pan finished play.

Playing much of the second round amidst overcast skies and scattered showers, Fast shined early on the Jack Nicklaus-designed course adjacent to Lake Keowee, posting three birdies in his first five holes of the day.

His torrid start, however, gave way to a mid-round lull featuring 10 consecutive pars from No. 6 through No. 15.

“It was frustrating there for a while,” Fast said. “I was hitting it good and not getting anything out of it.”

Fast’s failure to convert birdie tries ended abruptly, and in stellar fashion, over his final three holes. Approach shots to 3 feet, 15 feet and 10 feet rounded out a closing tear for the 29-year-old, who converted each birdie try for a three-birdie finish that vaulted him from a tie for eighth into the solo lead, albeit temporarily.

“I hit 17 greens today. Just about everything was 10 to 20 feet,” said Fast after his round. “I was just trying to stay patient out there, because I wasn’t really making anything.”

Fast entered the week at No. 79 on the money list, posting just one top-25 this year – a T23 effort at last week’s Rex Hospital Open.

The 36-hole lead in Greenville marks his second of the year, dating back to a pair of opening 65s at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by NACHER, which gave way to a T26 finish.

Fast will play his third course in three days on Saturday, but he insists the simplicity of approach remains the same.

“It’s a different course with different greens, but it’s the same deal,” Fast said. “Get the ball in the fairway and give yourself as many looks as you can. It’s all about getting in position for Sunday at Thornblade, because everyone knows this is a shootout.”

For Pan, Friday’s round at The Reserve at Lake Keowee was a veritable flurry of red figures, with seven birdies and a dramatic hole-out for eagle on the par-4 18th (his ninth) giving way to a second-round 63.

The former University of Washington star birdied three of his first eight holes before holing a 6-iron from 173 yards on the uphill 18th.

“I hit it really good, really pure. I hit it just like I wanted to, and then my friends on the green started yelling, ‘It’s in! It’s in!” said Pan. “It was really good to make an eagle there. It’s a tough hole, so it was nice to do something special.”

Pan birdied Nos. 1 and 2 to reach 7-under for the day before closing with a pair of birdies on Nos. 8 and 9 amidst a brief downpour and strong winds to match Fast atop the 36-hole leaderboard.

The Chinese Taipei native competed on Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada last year, winning The Players Cup and the Cape Breton Classic on his way to a second-place finish on the season-ending Order of Merit.

The experience, he says, prepared him for his year on the Web.com Tour, where he is two days away from possibly claiming the biggest win of his young career.

“I played well last year up in Canada, winning twice. I love the feeling of winning, so I want to get back to there,” he said. “I know we have a lot of holes left, so winning is not something I’ll put in my mind right now. I just want to keep making more birdies.”

Brandon Hagy and Matt Atkins are tied for third at 12 under par, one shot back of the co-leaders.

Hagy turned professional in 2014 after a heralded career at Cal-Berkeley, where he earned consensus first-team “All America” honors as a senior, the prestigious Byron Nelson Award and was named to the U.S. Palmer Cup team that summer.

Since then, the 25-year-old has split time between the PGA TOUR and the Web.com Tour, notching three starts on the latter in 2016 alone, with a T8 at the El Bosque Mexico Championship presented by INNOVA serving as his best finish. The top-10 in Mexico marked the first of his career on the Web.com Tour, coming in his 12th start since turning professional.

“I was second in Evansville going into Saturday. I didn’t have a good weekend, but I was pretty close there,” he said, referencing the Web.com Tour’s recent United Leasing & Finance Championship. “You just have to draw on all sorts of experiences in the past – leading tournaments, winning college events, all of that type of stuff helps. It’s still just hitting a white ball around a course.”

Like Hagy, Atkins opened his week at The Reserve at Lake Keowee, posting a 6-under 66 before matching his first-round score with a follow-up 66 at The Preserve at Verdae.

The former University of South Carolina-Aiken golfer posted seven birdies against just one bogey on the day, including birdies on each of his final two holes – the par-4 eighth and the par-5 ninth.

Atkins, currently 11th on the money list, has had a breakthrough season on the Web.com Tour. The Owensboro, Kentucky native has two top-5 finishes this year, including a runner-up effort at the Club Colombia Championship presented by Claro, where he fell victim to a 72nd-hole birdie by winner Sebastian Munoz.

Drew Weaver, Julian Etulain and Jason Allred are all tied for fifth at 11 under par.

At The Reserve at Lake Keowee, Calgary’s Ryan Yip was 2-under 70 and sits T37. Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., carded a 68 to move into a tie for 47th. Eugene Wong shot 71 and is T100. Richmond Hill, Ont., native Taylor Pendrith – a member of Team Canada’s Young Pro Squad – was 1-under.

Adam Svensson was even-par on the day at Thornblade; at 5-under, the Surrey, B.C., product is T47. For the second consecutive day, Ontarians Ben Silverman (Concord) and Young Pro Squad member Mackenzie Hughes shot matching scores. The pair carded 68s and sit T90. Edmonton’s Wil Bateman matched his opening 72 and is T121.

Completing the quartet of Young Pro Squad members in the field was Toronto’s Albin Choi, who tallied a 1-under 71 at The Preserve at Verdae.