2012-05-26 Colonial Round Three (iPhone)

With loud crowd’s backing, day’s best round lets Kraft vault 50 spots in standings

FORT WORTH — Years from now, when Kelly Kraft looks back upon his PGA Tour career, he might pinpoint Saturday as the day that jump-started it.

More specifically, Denton Ryan and SMU graduate Kraft, 23, would remember his front-nine 29, which vaulted him up the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial leaderboard.

Kraft, the 2011 U.S. Amateur champion, began Saturday tied for 57th place. By day’s end he was tied for seventh, spurred by a vocal gallery of family and friends. His 6-under 64 was the day’s lowest round and by far his best in three professional starts.

“It’s always nice to sleep in your own bed,” said Kraft, who was paired with TCU product J.J. Killeen. “It’s also great to come over here and represent SMU well in Frog land.”

Kraft turned pro after playing in April’s Masters. He missed the
cut in his first two starts, the Valero Texas Open and last week’s HP Byron Nelson Championship.

In fact, he wasn’t even close. He shot 71-79 in San Antonio and 77-76 at the Nelson. He grinded to make the cut at Colonial, birdieing his last hole Friday, No. 9, to make the cut by two shots, at 2-over.

Teeing off at 8:02 a.m. Saturday, nearly five hours before the leaders, Kraft hit his opening shot 297 yards. His 255-yard approach shot with a hybrid club to the par 5 landed in the left greenside bunker. From 49 feet, he plopped the ball out of the sand and it rolled into the cup for eagle.

“Then the putter started rolling, and it seemed like everything went in,” said Kraft, who birdied hole Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 8. He took only 12 putts on the front nine. His 29 was one stroke shy of the tournament’s front-nine record, set by Wayne Levi in 1993.

“I didn’t play bad on the back [nine] and shot even-par. Several of those holes were into the wind and the pins were tougher, so it was hard to get it close back there.”

After he finished his round, Kraft inched up the leaderboard in the afternoon as several contenders faltered.

Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson have separated from the field. Kraft trails leader Dufner by 11, but he has plenty for which to play Sunday.

He has no PGA Tour privileges, so he is playing on a maximum of seven sponsor’s exemptions this season. He can earn special temporary membership on Tour for the rest of this year by reaching the earnings of last season’s 125th-place player, D.J. Trahan, who made $668,166.

Until this week, Kraft had made zero. At his current seven-way tie for seventh, he would make $173,257 on Sunday. A top-10 finish also would earn him an extra PGA Tour start, in the next non-invitational event, the June 7-10 FedEx St. Jude Classic.

“I’m just going to have to come out and be patient,” Kraft said. “After such a hot start today, I know it will be difficult not to press to get back to where I was today. That just doesn’t happen all the time.

“I’m just going to be patient and try to get as many looks at birdies as possible.”