Jacob Bridgeman leads John VanDerLaan by one at Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna

Things to Know

• Jacob Bridgeman leads VanDerLaan after birding his finishing hole while completing his second round Saturday morning

• John VanDerLaan sits in second and has totaled 13 birdies against one bogey through 36 holes

• Three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Pierceson Coody sits two shots off the lead

• 18-hole co-leader Cristobal Del Solar is 1-under through 11 holes in the second round with seven holes remaining

• The second round will resume at 7:15 a.m. CT Saturday with 61 players needing to finish the round

Second-Round Lead Notes

2 - Second-round leaders/co-leaders to win Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna

- David Skinns (2021) and Kris Ventura (2019)

3 - Second-round leaders/co-leaders to win on Tour in 2023

- Nicholas Lindheim – The Ascendant presented by Blue

- Paul Barjon – Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS

- David Skinns – Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club

Charting the Co-leaders (stats entering the week)

Jacob Bridgeman (Leader/-13)

• Sits first on the leaderboard after finishing his second round early Saturday morning

• Carded an 8-under 63 in Round 2 after logging nine birdies, one eagle, one bogey and a double bogey

• Opened the week with a first-round bogey-free 5-under 66

• Bidding to clinch his first lead of any kind on the Korn Ferry Tour

- Previous best position after round: T3/R1/UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH

• Will set a new career low round if he plays the final two holes of his second round at 1-under par Saturday morning

• Entered the week No. 29 on the Points List after tallying nine top-25 finishes, including four top 10s, in 18 starts this season

• Best finish of the year is a T5 at the Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS

• In his second season on the Tour, originally earned Korn Ferry Tour membership last year after finishing No. 2 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2022, only behind Texas' Pierceson Coody

• Played collegiately for four seasons at Clemson University (2018-22), winning five times individually, with the crown jewel being medalist honors at the 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship en route to 2022 ACC Player of the Year honors

• 23-year-old who plays from Inman, South Carolina

John VanDerLaan (2nd/-12)

• Followed up his first-round bogey-free 64 with a second-round 5-under 66 via six birdies against one bogey

• Has logged 13 birdies against one bogey through 36 holes this week

- Only bogey came at the par-3 fifth

• This week marks his fourth time playing the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna, with his best finish in the event being a T47 last year

• Entered the week No. 44 on the Points List after posting eight top-25 finishes, including three top 10s, in 20 starts this season

• Best finish this year is a T5 at the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX

• In his third season on the Korn Ferry Tour, making his 90th career start this week

• Last season, he finished No. 47 on the regular season Points List after logging seven top-25 finishes in 24 starts

• In his 2020-21 rookie season on the Tour, made 44 starts and recorded 10 top-25 finishes, including three top 10s, eventually placing 53rd on the final Points List

• Played collegiately for four seasons at Florida Southern College (2014-18), where he won 11 individual titles, seven of which came during his senior season

• Won the individual national title at the 2018 NCAA Division II Championships, in addition to earning the Division II 2018 Jack Nicklaus Award, and also helped Florida Southern win the team national title at the 2017 NCAA Division II Championships

• 27-year-old native of Southbury, Connecticut

Quotables

John VanDerLaan on sitting atop the leaderboard entering the weekend… “Feeling really good. You know, I found a little something in my putting that's helped me the last couple of days. Just keep hitting it good, hitting fairways and giving myself chances. Nice to finish and get a couple extra hours of sleep tonight. Hopefully, do it again tomorrow.”

VanDerLaan on playing fast to complete the second round before dark… “Everybody in our group wanted to finish. Kind of lucky that we were first off and we knew if anybody was going to have a chance, we were going to have a chance. With a couple holes left, we kind of knew that we were looking pretty good to at least get one off of 18 tee so we didn't have to stress about it too much. Definitely playing a little quicker than maybe we otherwise would to try and get done.”

Joe Highsmith on playing well after dealing with a back injury this season… “I'm starting to play better. It's been kind of a struggle the last month or so coming back, but yeah, nice to post some good numbers and feel like I'm playing well again. My back is feeling really good and that's huge. I had to miss obviously a pretty good chunk of the season. Yeah, I mean, I was kind of just a little bit on the struggle bus trying to figure out how to kind of play my game again and I feel like I'm starting to find it a little bit. Yeah, it's great. I mean, I'm definitely kind of behind the 8 ball a little bit now with how I played and how much I missed, but still plenty of golf left. As long as I keep doing stuff well, I think I'll be all right.”

Highsmith on the importance of playing well with only six events remaining… “It's hard to not think about what's on the line this year. Obviously my first year on this Tour and I've only been a pro for a little over a year now. I'm sure I'm going to start to feel it quite a bit in the playoff events especially. And obviously I know what's on the line, but you always try your best to just dumb it down to just one shot at a time and whatever is required of the shot in front of you and not really get sucked into all that stuff. But it's tough. I mean, I'm going to be feeling the pressure, for sure.”

Notes

• Three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Pierceson Coody (3rd/-10) sits two shots off the lead entering Saturday after logging a second-round 6-under 65

- Coody, who earned his second victory of the 2023 season three weeks ago at the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr Pepper, is bidding to become the 13th player in history to earn the Three-Victory Promotion, which grants an immediate promotion to the PGA TOUR

- With a top-10 at last week’s Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank, Coody became the fourth player declared #TOURBound, meaning he is assured of finishing in the top 30 and earning PGA TOUR membership for the 2024 season; he joined Korn Ferry Tour Points List leader Ben Kohles, No. 2 Rico Hoey, No. 3 Ben Silverman

• Rookie Joe Highsmith (T4/-9) posted a second-round bogey-free 5-under 66 via three birdies (Nos. 4, 12, 16) and an eagle at the par-5 15th

- Bidding for his third time inside the top 10 after 36 holes this season (T7/The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club, T8/NV5 Invitational presented by Old National Bank)

- With five top-25 finishes in 14 starts this season, Highsmith sits 56th on the Points List, despite missing multiple events with a back injury

• Cristobal Del Solar (T4/-9), who entered the day with a share of the 18-hole lead, was unable to finish his second round due to darkness and sits three shots off the lead with seven holes to finish Saturday morning

- Through 29 holes played this week, Del Solar only has one hole of bogey or worse (second-round bogey at the par-3 eighth)

• In the sixth Korn Ferry Tour start of his career and just fourth this season, Zach Bauchou (T4/-9) opened the week with a first-round 5-under 66, and he is 4-under par through nine holes in his second round

- Bauchou earned the start this week by placing T20 at last week’s Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank where he was playing as a sponsor exemption

• Chris Naegel (T8/-8) tied the tournament course record Friday with a bogey-free 9-under 62 via seven birdies and one eagle

- Naegel joined Sam Ryder (2017, Round 3), Ben Taylor (2022, Round 3), Carl Yuan (2022, Round 3) and Sam Stevens (2022, Round 4) as the only players to card 62s in this event

• After entering the day as an 18-hole co-leader, Alejandro Tosti (T8/-8) recorded an even-par 71 in the second round via four birdies and four bogeys

- In his rookie season on the Tour, Tosti leads all players with eight top-10 finishes this season

• Parker Coody (T8/-8) opened the second round 6-under par through eight holes after recording four birdies (Nos. 2, 3, 4, 8) and an eagle at the par-5 seventh; Coody has six holes remaining in the second round and sits four shots off the lead

- After starting the season with conditional status and no guaranteed starts, Coody now sits 26th on the Points List and has logged three top-five finishes in his last six starts