Minnesotan Hitchner Extends Lead to Four at CRMC Championship

  BRAINERD, Minn. – Extending his bogey-free streak to 36 holes Saturday, Minnesotan Derek Hitchner carded a 5-under 66 during the third round of the 2025 CRMC Championship presented by Northern Pacific Center at Cragun’s Legacy Courses to pace the field for a second consecutive day.

Just 18 holes away from his first career victory, Hitchner will carry a four-stroke advantage to Sunday’s final round over Australian Grant Booth and Michael Brennan, who sits atop the Fortinet Cup standings.

Hitchner and Brennan were paired in the final group at the BioSteel Championship two weeks ago when Brennan notched the first PGA Tour Americas win of his career with a four-shot victory, while Hitchner finished tied for 14th.

“[Brennan] is the standard for golf out here; he’s a fantastic guy and even better player,” Hitchner said. “He’s as good as it gets and I love the opportunity to play with him. He had a clinical day in Windsor, and I thought it was awesome to have a front-row seat to that and see how he executed.”

“I have an awareness that people are going to make birdies out here, so I feel like there’s always a constant looming pressure to make birdies, but I wouldn’t say that led me to altering any sort of game plan. I tried to stick with what was working, and, thankfully, it worked pretty well today.”

Opening with a 63 during the first round Thursday, Hitchner took the 36-hole lead after firing a career-low Friday to lead by three. Despite being his first 54-hole lead Sunday, he’ll have home-field advantage over the Tour’s No. 1 player.

“It’s definitely a little surreal in some senses, but there’s a profound amount of golf left,” Hitchner said after taking the 54-hole lead in his home state. “In terms of what might happen tomorrow, I’m not really trying to conceive of anything and remaining as internally focused as possible.”

A steady Hitchner tallied a pair of birdies over his front nine Saturday to reach 19-under for the championship.

Following a birdie at the par-4 10th, Hitchner took advantage of both par-5s down the stretch, carding birdie at the 16th and sinking his birdie look from four feet at the last to shoot 5-under 66.

“I’m happy with the round as a whole—there are a few putts on the back nine I would’ve like to go in, but I can’t really complain about anything throughout the round because it felt solid across the board,” Hitchner said.

Brennan carded his best round of the week, a 7-under 64 Saturday to pull into a share of second with Booth at 18-under 195.

“Played very solid today,” the 23-year-old Virginia native said Saturday. “Made a couple too many bogeys on Thursday and Friday, so I went into this round with a no-bogey mentality. Unfortunately, I three-putted 13, made one bogey on the day, but definitely a lot cleaner than it was the first two rounds.

“It’s great to be in the final group because you get to see what’s going on firsthand. If you don’t play well tomorrow, it doesn’t matter if you’re in the final group, guys are going to pass you. [Hitchner] is such a great guy, I really enjoy playing with him and it should be pretty comfortable.”

Booth, who took the 18-hole lead Thursday with a round of 62, carded a pair of birdies during his front nine Saturday before giving them back with two bogeys at the 11th and 13th holes.

He bounced back with birdies at the 15th and 16th holes to move into a share of second with a round of 4-under 67.

Jake Peacock’s round of 9-under 62 Saturday catapulted him into a share of fourth place with China’s Andy Zhang at 17-under 196.

Carding a 6-under 65 for a second consecutive round, Minnesotan Carson Herron finished his third round Saturday in a share of sixth place at 16-under 197, four shots off the lead.

“Today was really solid again—I kept the ball in front of me,” Herron said after his round Saturday. “I was able to hit my wedge pretty close, which made it easy on me to convert some of those looks.

“Some of my drives early on this week were a little shaky, but if I can get the ball in front of me, I’ve been relying on my wedge game. Now I can be so hard on myself on my putting because I know I’m going to have a lot of good looks and I’m not going to make everything.”

The 23-year-old Herron came out firing Saturday, converting birdie chances at four of his first five to quickly jump to 14-under for the championship.

Beginning his back nine with a birdie from five feet at the 10th, Herron began to build momentum and followed it with a tap-in birdie at the 12th.

Rolling in a 20-footer for birdie at the 13th, Herron moved to 17-under for the tournament, but carded his only bogey of the round at the 14th, finishing with a 6-under 65 for a second straight round.

Andrew Israelson carded a third straight round below par Saturday, a 2-under 69, to finish his third round in a share of 45th with fellow Minnesotan Gunnar Broin at 10-under 203.

The final round of the 2025 CRMC Championship gets underway at 7:30 a.m. Sunday at Cragun’s Legacy Courses.