Reichert maintains his slim lead at the Porter Cup

At the end of a long day at Niagara Falls Country Club, where the golfers played the second and third rounds of the 62nd edition of the Porter Cup, the name remained the same at the top of the leaderboard.

Ben Reichert of East Amherst, NY who plays collegiately at Alabama-Birmingham, maintained his slim lead on the field after shooting rounds of 70 and 67 on Friday. At 9-under 201, Reichert has a one-stroke lead over Chris Francoeur and Herman Sekne heading into Saturday’s final round.

Reichert, who opened the tournament with a 6-under 64 on Thursday, played steady golf all day to keep his grasp on the lead. Two birdies erased his only two bogeys of the tournament en route to an even par 70 in the morning. He enjoyed a bogey-free round in the afternoon with three birdies, which lead to 3-under 67.

Francouer, who plays collegiately at Rhode Island, was 6-under on his two rounds on Friday after turning in scores of 68 and 66. The native of Amesbury, Mass. made four birdies on the first six holes of his afternoon round before finishing with 12 straight pars to jump up the leaderboard into a tie for second.

After turning in an even par round in the morning, Sekne, who plays collegiately at Purdue, made seven birdies in his afternoon round en route to a 5-under 65 and a share of second place at 8-under 202.

The lowest round of the day belonged to Canadian Garrett Rank. After shooting a disappointing 2-over 72 in the morning, Rank, 33, came out of lunch firing on all cylinders. He eagled the par-5 third hole and after giving one back with a bogey on the fourth, reeled off six straight birdies on holes 8-13 en route to carding a third-round score of 63.

A total of 12 golfers are within five strokes of the lead entering Saturday’s final round.