After another solid round, Theegala jumps to two-shot lead through three rounds at the Fortinet Championship
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
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Generally, the third round is when you start to see the top players rise on the leaderboard. It’s just when it gets a bit more intense.
In the third round of play at the Fortinet Championship at Silverado Resort and Spa on Saturday, it was the big names that shot to the top of the leaderboard.
But it appears as if one thing remains the same from the second round – Sahith Theegala is now the favorite the rest of the way.
The 25-year-old changed his tournament around on Friday to take a second-round lead into the weekend. This is the same lead he has kept through 54 holes as he’s in search of that ever-elusive first win on the PGA Tour.
In his round on Saturday, Theegalla was the only player to separate himself from a jumbled-up leaderboard by shooting a five-under, 67 on the day to move to -17 overall for the tournament.
With a bogey-free round, he converted a birdie from 8’ 7” away to convert the birdie at the eighth hole. Then, he went on a tear on the back nine where he birdied holes 12, 13, 15, and 17. He also saved par at the 18th despite sending his third shot on the second cut and a whopping 65 feet away from the hole.
“Yeah, it went well. I really stayed patient at the start of the round,” Theegalla said. “Had a couple really nice two-putt pars early on. Disappointing, the par 5, but I’m really hitting my irons pretty well and, you know, feel like I’m rolling it well.
“I didn’t make a couple early on, but I still put really good rolls on them,” he continued. “To make birdie on 8 was big just to see one kind of drop and reassure that, yeah, I am putting well and hitting my lines, speed feels good.
“Yeah, overall really happy with the way it went,” he concluded. “The big key for me is just try to keep it in the fairway, which I haven’t done a great job last three days and I feel like I’m just scrambling my butt off a little bit, which feels like a good thing because I feel like if I’m in the fairway, it almost feels like a bonus.”
After the leader, it’s a mess. There are five players within three shots of the leader. One of those is Justin Thomas. He vaulted to a tie for second on the day by shooting a 65.
“Yeah, I scored very well. Honestly, I felt like I played better, quite a bit better yesterday than I did today,” Thomas said of his lowest round of the tournament. “I definitely got a couple good breaks. I got away with a couple bad tee shots or, you know, a couple putts, you know. I felt like I just pulled that putt on 14 and it just caught the edge. I’ve been waiting a while for some stuff like that to happen, so it’s nice to see it. But more than anything, I’m staying patient and I’m staying kind of within myself and I’m just managing my way around the course very well.”
Joining Thomas at -15 for the tournament was S.H. Kim. He was able to get there by shooting a 69 on the day. However, he left his chances to be tied heading into Sunday on the course where he bogeyed the 13th and 14th holes. Part of this could be that he was flustered a bit by playing alongside Theegalla.
“It was a bit hectic out there,” Kim explained. “Sahith had quite a big following and I just haven’t played in this atmosphere for a while. I tried to get into my rhythm, it took some time, but I’m pretty happy with my round.”
Matt Kuchar moved into t a tie for fifth thanks to shooting a 65 on the day to go to 14-under for the tournament. He also added a bogey-free round, which helped the PGA Tour veteran vault up the leaderboard.
“It was really good, steady golf,” Kuchar said of his round. “It’s been fun. I got off to a funny start on Thursday with a triple bogey on my second hole of the day and then bounced back really quickly, an eagle and a birdie following two holes and then a double. My golf’s normally not like that. My golf is normally pretty steady, it’s pretty good at bogey avoidance, certainly good at double and triple bogey avoidance. But I was able to turn that into a solid round of 2 under. The games’s kind of been good and I’ve been able to avoid more bogeys and certainly avoid the doubles and triples on Rounds 2 and 3.”
The last of those within striking distance is Eric Cole, also at -14 for the tournament. He did this by shooting a 68 on the day. He had five birdies on 1, 10, 13, 14, and 15. This was then followed by a bogey on 16.
For two-time defending champion Max Homa, it was a day that was full of missed opportunities. At one point, he held the lead. But after the round, he found himself seven shots away from the leader. After birdies on 1, 4, 5, and 6, he bogeyed the 8th and 9th holes. He also birdied the 12th before bogeys again on 13 and 17.
“Yeah, just frustrating. I played awesome all day, just bad decision on 8, just playing like I’m a college golfer, make bogey, and then 9, was reeling off the decision on 8,” Homa said as to how his round unraveled. “Then, hit it good the rest of the back nine. Just hit it in a funny spot on 13 again, then didn’t capitalize on anything I did good the rest of the way in. Just one of those back nines. Frustrating because I had it today and did nothing with it. Live to see another day.”
The final round will be broadcast on Golf Channel at 3 pm tomorrow. Leaders will go off at 1:50 p.m. Everyone will start from the first tees as well.
Veritas wins putting competition
Veritas Christian Academy edged Vintage in the First Street Napa putting finals on Saturday.
Both schools advanced by shooting 16 in the opening round with five total schools. In the end, Dario Freschi shot a four and was edged by one shot.
Veritas was awarded a check of $5,000 by First Street Napa and the Fortinet Championship. Ole Health also won the $20,000 in the charity part of it.
