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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Zac Blair matched the course record with a 7-under 63 on Thursday to take the lead in the Web.com Tour Championship, the final event in the four-tournament Web.com Tour Finals.
Blair, the 24-year-old former BYU player who needs to earn about $40,000 this week to earn a PGA Tour card, had a bogey-free round on TPC Sawgrass' Dye's Valley Course.
Blair missed the cuts in the first three events in the series limited to the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour money list and Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup standings.
"It's been crazy", said Blair, playing for the 12th consecutive week. "You always have to stay positive and look at the bright side. ... It's just a bonus to even be out here. Obviously, I would like to capitalize on it and play well."
He had only 23 putts Thursday.
"When you get it rolling and you're playing that well it definitely frees things up," Blair said.
The top 25 on the Web.com money list have earned PGA Tour cards. They are competing against each other for PGA Tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals. The other players are fighting for another 25 cards based on their earnings in the series.
Scott Pinckney, Derek Fathauer, Sung Joon Park, Bronson La'Cassie and Chad Collins were tied for second at 65.
Pinckney locked up a PGA Tour card with a fourth-place tie two weeks ago in the Chiquita Classic.
"It's a weird feeling because I've been grinding all year," Pinckney said. "I'm just going out, having fun and trying to execute every shot to the best of my ability."
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