TRUCKEE, Calif. — The field at the Barracuda Championship has been whittled from 156 golfers down to 66 players following Friday’s second round cut.

Tournament first-timer, Ryan Gerard, heads into the third round at Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood course with a four-point lead and is seeking the first PGA TOUR win of his career.

“I feel like my game is just slowly getting more and more consistent,” said Gerard, who has never held a lead after any round on the PGA Tour. “I feel like my ceiling’s always been pretty high and I’ve had the ability to go really low and make a lot of birdies. But I feel like getting out here, kind of being more comfortable with the courses, the style of play, how difficult it is week-to-week, how many really good players there are just kind of battling you for that top spot.”

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Gerard finished the second round with seven birdies, and no bogeys and has a high score of 30 points using the Modified Stableford Scoring Format.

The tournament is the only one in the PGA to use the Modified Stableford scoring format, which, rather than counting strokes, involves scoring points based on the number of strokes taken at each hole. Gerard, 23, of Raleigh, North Carolina, said he’s never played under the Modified Stableford scoring format.

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“I’ve been hitting it great,” he said. “I think I’ve hit 16 or 17 greens both rounds out here. So, feel really comfortable at the altitude getting the distances to the right spot where I want ’em. I had a little bit of a mud on my shirt from hitting it out of the water on (hole) six, but besides that it was relatively stress-free and always nice to hole a few par putts coming down the stretch.”

Patrick Rodgers, 31, of Avon, Indiana, sits in second place 26 points. Last week’s Barbasol Champion, Vincent Norrmann, 25, of  Sweden, is in third place with 23 points.

Two of the eight past Barracuda Championship winners that started the week in the field will make the cut, which was set at 11 points. Last year’s winner, Chez Reavie, is sitting in a tie for 23rd  with 15 points and 2021 winner, Erik van Rooyen, is tied for 57^th with 11 points.

One amateur managed to make the cut.

The third round of the Barracuda Championship at Old Greenwood’s par 71, 7,480-yard course is currently underway.