KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's Tim Wilkinson hit a 65 and is sitting pretty with his PGA Tour card safe. Former Major winner Rich Beem also hit a 65 - but is hopeful he does not slide out of golf's top tier.
At the end of the season, the usual crush occurs to find the top 125 money winners who stay automatically on the Tour.
Wilkinson's place was safe after his career-best second finish in the Texas Open last week but former PGA champion Beem started the weekend in 128th place before yesterday's 65 saw him only five shots off the lead in the Vegas Open.
Wilkinson jumped nearly 30 places up the money list last week (and may go higher again this week) and Beem will be hoping for something similar when the tournament finishes tomorrow.
The affable American has tried to put that out of his mind while making quality golf his priority today and tomorrow.
"I don't think about that at all really," Beem said after firing a seven-under-par 65 in yesterday's second round at the TPC Summerlin. "I'm out here to play golf, to play as good as I can. I'm aware of it but I'm not really thinking about it. If you start thinking about that, you're in trouble."
Only three more events remain on the 2008 Tour after this week for players to break into the top 125 on the money list and earn exempt status for next season.
Beem, in 128th place, is among those on the outside. However, he has made the most of near-perfect conditions in Nevada over the past two days, with rounds of 66 and 65 lifting him into a tie for 10th at 13 under.
"You just got to make putts on these greens," said the 38-year-old, who clinched his first major title at the 2002 US PGA Championship at Hazeltine National.
"It's a putting contest out here this week much more than anything else because the golf course is really good. There's no wind and the pins have actually been fairly easy."
American golfer Matt Kuchar shrugged off a run of seven missed cuts on the PGA Tour by surging into a tie for the lead in the Open.
A stroke off the pace overnight, Kuchar fired a second successive nine-under-par 63 to finish level at 18-under 126 with compatriot Marc Turnesa, who holed out spectacularly from 145m to eagle the last for a 64.
