Varner grabs Rex Hospital Open lead
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Raleigh, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Harold Varner III fired a 6-under 65 on Friday to claim the lead of the Rex Hospital Open.
Varner, who is seeking his first career win on the Web.com Tour, finished 36 holes at TPC Wakefield Plantation at 10-under-par 132.
Max Homa (68) is alone in second place at 9-under, while Camilo Benedetti (65), Scott Gardiner (66), Peter Tomasulo (67), Hunter Haas (68) and Daniel Berger (67) share third at minus-7.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former Web.com Tour winners Edward Loar (66), Miguel Angel Carballo (68), Andres Gonzales (66) and Chris Wilson (68) are among a group of 10 players tied for eighth at 6-under 136.
Varner started on the back nine and followed an opening par with birdies at the 11th, 13th and 15th.
After parring his next five holes, he converted another birdie effort at the third to reach 8-under.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He would move to minus-10 with back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh, and parred his final two holes to end there and claim the lead.
"I worked on my putting with my instructor on Monday and just focused on fundamentals, like the set-up," said Varner. "You don't want to miss before you swing."
Homa bogeyed the first to fall to 5-under, but he would not drop another shot for the remainder of the day and he parred the next three holes before rolling in three straight birdies from the fifth to race to minus-8.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He birdied the ninth to pull within a shot of Varner, but he could not grab a share of the lead as he parred his final nine holes to end at 9-under.
"I thought yesterday was about as low as I could have shot and today was about as high as I could have shot," Homa said. "The putter went cold. I hit some good putts but I couldn't get any to fall. It would have been nice to get a couple back but you can't make them all."
NOTES: Varner, a tour rookie, has the lead at the end of a round for the first time in his career ... Varner's 64 was the lowest round of his career ... Homa won last week at the BMW Charity Pro-Am ... Sebastian Vazquez withdrew during the round due to a back problem ... The cut line fell at 1-under 141 and 76 players advanced to the weekend.