Top of Leaderboard Crowded at Tour Championship

Overnight leader Kris Wasylowich wasn’t able to give himself any breathing room Friday during the second round of the Canadian Tour Championship at St. Catharines Golf and Country Club in St. Catharines, Ont.

With Wasylowich plodding his way through an even-par day, Minnesota native Kane Hanson elbowed his way to the top of the leaderboard heading into the weekend at the $325,000 event.

Hanson put up a six-under 64 to take the lead, while Devin Carrey, from South Surrey, B.C., posted 63 and is just one shot back. Wasylowich is in third spot at eight-under.

Current Order of Merit leader Aaron Goldberg (67) is tied for fourth at six-under with Victoria’s Stuart Anderson (63) and Jose de Jesus Rodriguez of Mexico (65). Canadians Adam Hadwin and Ryan Yip are at five under, along with American John Ellis.

With his card locked up for 2011, Carrey isn’t feeling a lot of pressure as he chases the $52,000 winner’s share of the largest purse in Canadian Tour history. He was four-under on his front nine and played the five par three holes at two-under.

“Everybody definitely knows what is at stake, but you have to try and treat it like every other tournament out there,” he said of the purse.

On the other hand, Hanson is worried about having a place to play next year after not making a cheque since April. Heading into this week, he sat 96th on the Order of Merit, six spots outside the number needed to keep non-exempt status for 2011.

A couple more days like Friday and he isn’t going to have much to worry about when it comes to holding down his status.

“I need to play well this week to keep my status out here, so this is huge. If I missed the cut this week, I would have to go back to Q-school, so it’s a very important week for me to play well,” said Hanson.

“With the way I’m playing I think I would have to take Top-20 to keep my card so I’m not too concerned about that,” he said. “My goal right now is to just play solid and if I continue to putt like I am I have a really good chance. I’m excited about it.”

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