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The 32-year-old leads Ireland's Seamus Power by one stroke, with
Austin Smotherman and Sweden's Jonas Blixt tied for third at 7
under.
It marks the first time in his PGA career he has held a
tournament lead outright after 18 holes.
Hoge pulled off his low round at the tournament's primary
course, Pebble Beach Golf Links. Everyone in the field will play
one round apiece at Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill and Monterey
Peninsula before Pebble Beach hosts the final round following a
54-hole cut.
Hoge started on the back nine and opened with two birdies before
arriving at the tee at No. 3 just 3 under for the round. That's
where he began his birdie run, which featured a chip-in at the
par-4 fourth hole and a 40-foot putt at the par-4 eighth.
"It's hard to be in a bad mood out here," Hoge said. "I mean,
Pebble Beach and perfect weather is about as good as it gets.
... I feel like I've been playing well. I've been excited to get
out here on the golf course and feel like at Pebble Beach is a
golf course that suits me well, so I was excited to get out here
this week."
Though still searching for his first PGA Tour win, Hoge has two
top-five finishes this season, including second two weeks ago at
The American Express.
Power's bogey-free, 8-under 64 came at Spyglass Hill. He wrapped
up the round with four straight birdies on the front nine.
"It's a funny old golf course," Power said. "I hit a horrible
tee shot on the par-3 fifth, had a very good up-and-down to kind
of stay at 4 (under) and then just kind of clicked coming in,
really, made a couple of very nice putts and a couple of very
nice shots."
Patrick Cantlay, the reigning FedEx Cup champion and
highest-ranked player in the field, carded a 6-under 65 at
Monterey Peninsula, tying him with Andrew Putnam for fifth.
Cantlay made three birdies over his first six holes, fell back
with consecutive bogeys at Nos. 7 and 8 and recovered with five
birdies on the back nine, including the last three holes.
"I think that you definitely need to do your scoring here, and
depending upon how Spyglass is set up that could be really tough
with the greens being bouncy, but if you look at the scores,
year after year, they're always high teens," Cantlay said.
Defending champion Daniel Berger withdrew Wednesday before the
tournament began due to a back injury.
--Field Level Media
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