Turk Pettit (Western G.A. photo)

Tearing his way through the front nine at Crooked Stick, Hogan (Texas Tech) made four birdies and five pars on his way to a 32, after opening with a 2-under 70 on Tuesday.

We don't think Hogan is related to Ben, but he certainly played to his name today (and he is also from Texas). Carrying momentum into the back nine, Hogan eagled the par-4 11th before giving one back at the next hole for his lone bogey of the day. He played the rest of the way. in at 1-under for a 66 and 36-hole total of 8-under 136.

Pettit, a Clemson senior from Sugar Grove, North Carolina -- who went out earlier Wednesday morning -- is tied with Hogan after posting his second-straight 4-under 68.

Pettit carded six birdies, but gave two shots back with a double bogey for his second consecutive 68. He is trying to make the match play portion of the Western Amateur for the second time in two appearances.

Matthias Schmid, of Moxhuette, Germany and Joseph Pagdin, of Sheffield, England, are both a shot back at 7-under after each posted 69 on Wednesday.

Pagdin, a freshman at Florida, birdied five of his last 10 holes today.

“I didn’t get off to the best start, hitting some loose shots and making mistakes,” he told the Western Golf Association. “But I drained some good putts and got on a roll. I’m happy with my round, but I could have gotten more out of it. I love the course. It can bite you when it wants, but it also rewards good shots.”

Maybe the most expected but unexpected performance is just wrapping up at press time. We predicted that Quade Cummins was going to be in the Western Amateur mix, but he was in severe danger of missing the cut after a 2-over 74 on Tuesday.

But Cummins is ranked No. 1 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com World Amateur Ranking for a reason. He's coming off 3rd and 4th place finishes at the Southern and Sunnehanna Amateurs -- two "Majors of Amateur Golf" -- and today he roared back with a birdie-eagle run at Nos. 8 and 9 to shoot 32 on the front, and has recorded another birdie on the back to get to 3-under on the tournament. Cleanly under the 36-hole cut, Cummins can focus on making it to the "Sweet-16" tomorrow.

Another guy to watch heading into match play is Andy Ogletree. The winner of the 2019 U.S. Amateur is ready to defend at Bandon Dunes in late August. At 6-under after 36-holes, he seems poised to make a run here and perhaps bring a little more hardware with him to Oregon. We certainly wouldn't bet against him if he makes the Sweet-16.

Ricky Castillo, of Yorba Linda, California, and Alexander Yang, of Carlsbad, California, are both at 5-under. Castillo, who made match play last year, was also on everyone's early Western Amateur watch list.

Another Californian, William Mouw of Chino, appears to be validating his decision to forego a California Amateur title defense to play in the Western. After two rounds of 69, Mouw sits at 6-under and well-positioned for a Sweet-16 run.

Preston Summerhays, the reigning U.S. Junior champion who won last week's Sunnehanna Amateur, shot a 70 to make the cut at 1 under par, two shots out of the 16th spot.

The cut fell at even par, with 46 players at or below that number. Among those missing out is the defending champion Garrett Rank of Canada, who shot rounds of 74-73 to fall three shots short. John Pak, who recently debuted at No. 1 in the first-ever PGA Tour University Ranking, missed the cut by two shots.

Others whose tournament ended after two rounds include the recent Southern Amateur winner McClure Meissner, the U.S. Amateur runner-up John Augenstein, and 2018 British Amateur champion Jovan Rebula.

Two rounds will be played on Thursday, with a playoff if need to pare the field down to the Sweet 16 who will advance to match play.