Justin Biwer turned a mixed day into the biggest lead of the tournament Friday, tying the course record with a 61 at Cragun’s Legacy Course and going to the weekend four strokes clear at the CRMC Championship presented by Northern Pacific Center. He reached 14 under through 36 holes in Brainerd, Minnesota.
That is why Adam Thielen is in the search line here: the name is pulling readers toward a golf leaderboard that suddenly has a clear front-runner. Biwer, who earned PGA TOUR Americas membership through Q-School in April, was not simply steady. He built the lead with a round that included one eagle, 20 birdies, 11 pars, one bogey, two double bogeys and one triple bogey, the sort of scorecard that can swing from messy to brilliant in a few holes.
The finish told the story. Biwer closed with five consecutive birdies on holes five to nine to post a back-nine 28, and that surge pushed him past a field that still has plenty of firepower behind him. Max Sekulic and Brady McKinlay were part of a six-way tie for second at 10 under, with Patrick Flavin, Tom Fischer, Peter Knade and David Perkins also there. Sekulic finished with a bogey-free 63 and a 40-foot eagle putt on nine, while McKinlay aced the 136-yard 16th with a 50-degree wedge on his way to a 63.
What makes Biwer’s lead harder to dismiss is how uneven the round was before that closing run. A player can card two double bogeys and a triple bogey and still be four ahead only when the rest of the card is full of birdies, and that was the shape of Friday for him. He also came into the week as the No. 43 player on the points list, with two top-10 finishes in eight starts, plus two more top 10s in three Korn Ferry Tour starts as a nonmember, so this was not a one-round surprise. Patrick Flavin’s place in the tie for second matters too; he was third on the points list, which gives the weekend chase some weight.
Forecasted inclement weather Friday night and Saturday morning changed the shape of the weekend before the third round could begin. Saturday’s play was set for threesomes off Nos. 1 and 10 from 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., a format that can make a lead feel both safer and more fragile at the same time. Biwer starts that round with the cushion, the record-tying number beside his name and the field chasing from four shots back.
