WESTON, Florida—Alex Herrmann has never played in a PGA TOUR-affiliated tournament. That could soon change. Herrmann finds himself on the cusp of getting a bunch of PGA TOUR Canada starts this summer as the native of Woerthsee, Germany, shot a best-of-the-week-tying 67 in the third round to forge a four-shot lead over American Benjamin Shipp with 18 holes to play in the Tour’s first Qualifying Tournament of the year. Herrmann, a former Georgia State golfer, did his damage at The Club at Weston Hills’ Tour Course by making six birdies and a bogey Thursday.

Tied for third five shots behind Herrmann are Zimbabwe amateur Kieran Vincent and American James Hervol.

“I didn’t want to play overly aggressive today. I just tried to hit the fairways and greens I needed to hit and got up and down (for par) a couple of times,” said Herrmann, who played his rookie pro season on the ProGolf Tour. “I had a good strategy today and took advantage of it.”

Herrmann’s birdies came early, at Nos. 1 and 3. His only bogey of the day was at No. 6 when he was in between clubs on his approach shot. He missed the green and couldn’t convert a 20-foot par putt. Herrmann came right back with a par-birdie-birdie finish to turn to the back nine in 3-under. He was efficient over his final nine holes, with seven pars, and birdies at Nos. 14 and 16.

“You try to play your best. This is a four-round event. I never thought about the leaderboard, honestly,” Herrmann added. “I’m trying to stick to the plan and treat every round the same.”

Shipp, the first- and second-round leader, fell back in the third round, firing his first over-par score of the week (73) but was proud of how he grinded with “not having my good stuff.”

Shipp missed a short, downhill birdie putt on the first hole, the first of five consecutive pars. He added two more, on Nos. 7 and 8, sandwiched around bogeys at the sixth and ninth. On his first-hole miss, he said the putt fooled him and did the same thing to playing partner Kaiwen Liu, who was on a similar line.

“I thought I hit a good putt there. I hit a lot of good putts today. I’m not seeing a lot of them drop,” Shipp said.

Vincent was the only player in his group to birdie the opening hole, and he followed that with another birdie, at No. 2. He then fell on hard times, with bogeys on three of his next four holes, escaping with a par on No. 4. He turned in 1-over, made one birdie on the back nine to go with his eight pars to get it back to even par. He’s tied with Hervol, a former University of Connecticut co-captain and native of Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

“I feel good. I think the secret to Q-School is trying to play your regular game, to stay in the moment and not try to care too much,” said Hervol about a strategy that has served him well. “So far, I’ve done a good job of staying loose and keeping it free.”