Lower grabs third-round lead in Fortinet Championship
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
If you want to win the season-opening Championship at Napa’s Silverado Resort and Spa, the time to position yourself is in the third round.
Normally, a first-round lead is a curse. However, Justin Lower is proving to be an exception to recent history. With the third round of three-under 69, Lower was able to regain the lead heading into Sunday. He is at 13-under through 72 holes.
The round was far from perfect, especially to a PGA Tour player’s standards, but he converted five birdies that were ruined by a pair of bogeys at the first and seventh holes.
Lower also hit 13 of 18 greens in regulation and 9 of 14 fairways, which is a solid round. He saved one of two balls in the bunker and was 3 of 5 when it came to scrambling as well.
“I just tried to really keep it as simple as I could, keep it in play, keep it in the fairway because I really think you can score from the fairway,” Lower explained. “It’s very tough to score from the rough, especially with the pins tucked the way they are.”
2021 winner Max Homa came into the day with the tournament lead with Danny Willett. They both ended the day tied for second a stroke off the lead at -12.
Homa shot a par 72 round. He bogeyed the second and 14th holes and birdied the fifth and 15th. He may have actually played a better round than the score indicates. After all, he was in the fairway pretty often with 10 of 14 drives landing there. He also got on the green in regulation 12 of 18 times total.
“Just a grind. Weather made it tricky,” Homa pointed out. “Didn’t putt it well. If I would have just putted half decent, shoot 3 under, I would think. But I’m proud of the way I kept swinging, I didn’t get too impatient and kept myself in the golf tournament.”
Homa will enter Sunday looking to be the first repeat winner in Napa since Brendan Steele did it in 2016 and 2017.
Willett also was also even par for the round. He had three birdies on holes No. 8, 14, and 18. However, this was compounded by a double bogey on the ninth hole and a bogey on the 17th. He wasn’t great when it came to putting the ball in the fairway, hitting just 4 of 14 fairways in the round. He also made it onto the green in regulation 10 times.
“It was tough when we started the day, it was really windy,” Willett said of his round. Kind of trying to hold some of them front flags when it’s pumping downwind when the area’s really small, but yes, some scrappy golf. And then I had a few nice looks kind of 12 through 16 and didn’t take any. Then yeah, it’s always nice to get a little bit of look down the last there to make a birdie to be in that last group tomorrow.”
Scoring was much harder later in the day for the later tee times. The course dried out and firmed up.
“The course is probably the most firm it has been and the wind didn’t make it easy,” Lower said of how the course changed, which was due to winds also picking up. “Wind never makes it easy for that matter.”
Lower, Homa, and Willett will be the last group to hit the course at 10:12 am on Sunday.
In the morning tee times, Harrison Endycott went out and jumped 54 spots by shooting a 65 which moved him up to on the pilon to be a part of the conversation come Sunday. He did it with a bogey-free round and getting on the green in regulation 15 of 18 times.
“I played really nice out there today,” Endycott said of his round. “Definitely helps when you’ve got a driver in the bag after yesterday’s shenanigans with the cracked driver face. This golf course is tough hitting 3-wood everywhere. So it was nice to get freed up, played some good golf today. Got the putter rolling.”
Part of the reason Endycott was able to vault ahead of so many players was the fact that playing conditions have dried out in the afternoon, which has made it harder to score. Due to having a morning tee time, he was able to make the most of the conditions.
Endycott was the lone player to play the round alone. This meant that he had the ability to go out at his own pace after being the first one on the course at 7:40 this morning.
Another one that made a jump in the morning was Paul Haley II. Haley put up at six-under 66 on the day, which was his career-low score. He had a marvelous round going until the final two holes where he bogeyed both. Haley only hit half the fairways in the round but made up for it by getting on the green in regulation 13 of 18 times. Plus, he scrambled well finishing 3 of 5 in that department and 3 of 4 in sand saves.
Due to forecasted inclement weather, the final round of the Fortinet Championship will feature threesomes off split tees from approximately 8 – 10:12 a.m. PT.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) September 17, 2022
Heading into the final round, it’s really anyone’s tournament to win. There are five players just two strokes from the lead.
Sunday will be a completely different animal, due to forecasted rain that could force start and stops to play all day long. Due to the forecasted inclement weather, tee times have been moved up to 8-10 am to try to get the round in. The round will feature threesomes from the 1st and 10th tees.
