Adam Hammes had one of the hot rounds on Friday to jump to solo second place. Photo: Kevin Huver / PDGA

Twelve players are within five strokes of the lead through two rounds of the 2021 PDGA National Tour Finale – Music City Open presented by Dynamic Discs.

While there’s very little separation, they’re still chasing Mason Ford.

The Texas native maintained his spot atop the leaderboard and his one-stroke lead in Nashville as action shifts to a vastly different style of play for the weekend at Mill Ridge.

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Ford, as he did in Thursday’s opening round, just kept giving himself looks at the wooded Cedar Hill track. His 10-under round on Thursday stood as the hottest round at the Music City course.

Mason Ford had the only round in double digits at Cedar Hill and leads the MCO by one stroke. Photo: Kevin Huver / PDGA

“I’ve been giving myself putts and that’s been the biggest thing,” said Ford, who finished with a 7-under round on Friday. “You can’t score without that. I think I putted pretty clean today in the circle. I’ve just been giving myself chances and capitalizing on them.”

He’ll have a few new players on his heels heading into moving day at Mill Ridge, a 9,190-foot, par 64 track that, while adding more distance shots, still demands the same accuracy.

Adam Hammes, who picked up his first National Tour win early this season at the Santa Cruz Masters Cup and added a second PDGA Elite Series win at the DGPT – MVP Open earlier this month, jumped three spots into solo second place. Hammes matched Kevin Jones with a 9-under, the hottest rounds of the day on Friday.

“Felt good today,” Hammes said. “I had a couple of mistakes yesterday and I wanted to come out and fix those. I threw the disc well and putted really well today.”

Hammes thinks that the separation is coming this weekend at Mill Ridge.

“I think scores are going to be a little different, a little more separation,” he said. “It’s longer and there are more technical holes. It’s a good mix.”

Kevin Jones is in fourth place as action shifts to Mill Ridge in Nashville. Photo: Kevin Huver / PDGA

Ford leads at 17-under with a 99 total. Hames is second at 16-under, one shot ahead of Chris Dickerson, whose 7-under kept him on the lead card in solo third. Jones rounds out the top four at 14-under with his 49 on Friday.

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Ford had a little more work to do in the second round with an 80% scramble rate. Hammes, meanwhile, connected on three Circle 2 putts, including a 60-foot birdie on 10 and 49-foot hit on 13.

Dickerson had one of 10 bogey-free rounds in the 130-player field. Jones bounced back from an early bogey and finished with back-to-back C2 putts on 17 and 18 from 38 and 49 feet, respectively.

Dustin Keegan rose 16 spots on Friday. Photo: Kevin Huver / PDGA

2020 MCO champion Alden Harris and Corey Ellis lead the chase card at 13-under par.

Dustin Keegan jumped 16 spots into a tie for seventh with Garrett Gurthie and Matt Orum, who both leaped eight spots up the leaderboard and are seven strokes off the lead.

Catch all of the action from Round 3 of the Music City Open live on the Disc Golf Network.