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Sports

Piller maintains share of News Sentinel lead

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Farragut, TN (SportsNetwork.com) - Martin Piller shot 4-under 67 on Friday and remained tied for the lead after 36 holes of the News Sentinel Open.

Piller ended two rounds at 10-under-par 132, and he was joined there by Roger Sloan, who matched the low round of the day with his 7-under 64.

Two-time News Sentinel winner Hunter Haas, Camilo Benedetti and Fabian Gomez all carded 5-under 66s on Friday. They share third place at minus-9 at Fox Den Country Club.

Peter Lonard also posted a 66 in round two. He stands at 8-under 134 and was joined there by Ryan Spears (68) and Bill Lunde (67).

Matt Fast, who shared the first-round lead with Piller, managed a 1-under 70 in the second round. He slid into a tie for ninth at minus-7.

Piller played the back nine first in round two. After a par on the 10th, he holed out for eagle on the par-4 11th. He converted birdie chances on the 14th and 15th to move to 10-under.

"That was cool because I felt like I should have birdied No. 10. It definitely settled me down, after that I was ready to go," Piller said of his eagle.

Piller, a two-time winner in the 2010 season, reeled off eight consecutive pars. He dropped in a birdie try at the par-3 sixth, but closed his round with a bogey at the ninth to slip to minus-10.

"I want to win. I'm going to need to keep doing what I'm doing and maybe play even better," Piller stated.

Sloan birdied the 10th to start his round, but he gave that shot back as he bogeyed the 12th. Sloan bounced back with three straight birdies from the 13th to move to minus-6.

The Canadian birdied the 17th and came back with a birdie on the first to get within two of the lead.

Sloan parred four in a row from the second before making birdie at the sixth. He capped his round with a kick-in birdie on the ninth to join Piller atop the leaderboard.

"I hit a lot of good shots and converted a lot of opportunities out there. You have to stay focused on the process that it takes to be successful," said Sloan. "Obviously, the goal is to win. That's what we practice for, we want to be in that situation."

NOTES: Sloan, who is 22nd on the money list, beat Derek Fathauer in a playoff for his win earlier this year ... Piller has a piece of the 36-hole lead for the second time in his Web.com Tour career ... Darron Stiles, the 2002 and 2012 winner, had a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth ... The cut fell at 2-under 140 with 81 players moving on to the weekend ... Among those that missed the cut were Ted Purdy, Matt Weibring, Derek Gillespie, Kyle Reifers and Rod Pampling, as well as former winners Jarrod Lyle and Jeff Gove.