Knous and McNealy hold co-lead at Fortinet Championship as tournament heads into final day
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
The third round of a golf tournament is often touted as a day where the cream rises to the top.
To be expected, many new names made their move and put themselves in a position to leave Silverado Resort & Spa with the first trophy of the new season.
One of those going out earlier in the day and having a solid round was PGA Tour veteran Webb Simpson. Thanks to shooting a seven-under 65 on the day, he was able to vault up to the 8th position.
“It was still tough out there,” Simpson explained. “Didn’t get off to a great start, was even through seven, but stayed patient and started making putts. I hadn’t really made any putts so far this tournament and rolled a couple (of) good ones in there on 8, 9, and 10 and then the hole started looking bigger and bigger.”
He was able to do it on the heels of eight birdies and a bogey. After birdieing hole three, he bogeyed the fourth hole before running off seven birdies. He also hit a very impressive 14 of 18 greens in regulation.
Phil Mickelson went out earlier in the day and also put up a 67, five-under round. In typical Mickelson fashion, he was only able to hit 5 of 14 fairways. Yet, he still made it onto the green in regulation in 13 of 18 attempts.
He birdied the first hole, then bogeyed the seventh before running off five straight birdies on holes 13 through 17.
“I just felt like I had been putting really well all week and I just needed to settle down and let one go in, not force it,” Mickelson said of his five straight birdies. “I needed to get a couple of fairways (to) hit because so much easier from the fairways getting to these pins. I just rolled a couple in, so it was nice.”
The surprise of the day though came from Jim Knous. He climbed up the leaderboard as well thanks to a solid seven-under, 65 round. He ran off six birdies before bogeying hole 12. Then, he bounced back to birdie 16 and 18.
“It was a great day, putter got hot there late on the back nine, on the front nine, stayed hot pretty much most of the round,” Knous said of his round. “Especially a nice putt on the last, that was a bonus. Just played solid, just stayed patient, kind of let the course come to me. When it gets firm and fast like that, just got to be patient.”
Maverick McNealy came into the day with the lead. As it would turn out, he would share the lead with Knous at the day’s end. He didn’t play his best round by shooting just a 70, two-under. He had four bogeys and six birdies on the day.
McNealy had to birdie 16, 17, and 18 in order to get back to a tie for the lead.
“It was a crazy day, I’m not going to lie, that front nine got going pretty quick,” McNealy said of his round. “Hit it in a few funny spots. We were on the clock I think on I want to say the ninth hole and it was just pretty hectic.
“Then, got to the 12th fairway. I remember hitting a good tee shot down the middle on the 12th with a utility iron and everything seemed to slow down and calm down for me,” he continued. “I started seeing my lines with the putter and I was really proud (of) how I finished.”
Max Homa also shot a 65 Saturday. His round could’ve been better had he not bogeyed the fourth and seventh holes.
The good round makes him a threat headed into Sunday’s final round.
“I don’t think there’s a number,” Homa said as to what could win tomorrow. “Went out and shot 7 under today, had a three-putt, and missed a three-footer, so the way I’m playing I think I could keep shooting low numbers, and if it gets real hard I think I could be kind of Steady Eddie. So I’m not too worried about where I need to be at the end of today as far as how far back I am. I really wanted to get to 10 under because I just thought that would be a good kind of jumping-off point for tomorrow.
“So we’ll see what the leaders do, but like I said, I can’t do a whole lot better than I did today,” he continued. “I’m not too concerned with what I’m going to need to shoot tomorrow until we see what kind of happens this afternoon.”
The final round will tee off at 8:05 am and the leaders will go off at 2 pm. Golf Channell’s coverage will begin at 3 pm and go until the conclusion of the tournament.
