Rocket Mortgage Classic: Niemann, Merritt tied for top spot at Detroit

Niemann is tied for the top spot at 14-under 202 with Troy Merritt, who used a hole-in-one at No. 11 to help him to a 5-under 67, his second round of 67 in the tournament.

Published : Jul 04, 2021 09:33 IST

Joaquin Niemann of Chile plays his shot from the fourth tee during the third round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Joaquin Niemann of Chile plays his shot from the fourth tee during the third round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
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Joaquin Niemann of Chile plays his shot from the fourth tee during the third round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Chile's Joaquin Niemann shot a 4-under-par 68 on Saturday to retain a share of the lead after three rounds of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club.

Niemann is tied for the top spot at 14-under 202 with Troy Merritt, who used a hole-in-one at No. 11 to help him to a 5-under 67, his second round of 67 in the tournament.

Hank Lebioda vaulted into a tie for third place at 13 under with a 6-under 66 in the third round and is tied with Australia's Cam Davis, who shot 67.

Brandon Hagy is all alone in fifth place at 12 under after shooting a 4-under 68 on Saturday, while Jason Kokrak and Kevin Kisner are in a group of six at 11 under.

Niemann, whose only PGA Tour victory came in 2019 at the A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, did not have a bogey Saturday for the third consecutive round and closed with birdies on two of his final six holes.

 

Niemann's birdie at the par-5 17th hole came after he just missed an eagle from the fringe, using a fairway wood for a bump-and-run.

"You hit a lot of drivers here and if you hit the driver well, you're hitting a lot of wedges," Niemann said. "I've been hitting the wedges pretty good this week, so I think, yeah, I think my whole game's been there and hopefully will stay there (Sunday)."

Merritt, whose most recent of his two victories came in 2018, got off to a red-hot start with four birdies among his first seven holes, including a near ace at No. 5 when he put his tee shot inside of a yard from the cup.

Merritt needed six more holes to actually get his ace when his 5-iron from 218 yards took one hop and landed into the cup. The hole-in-one pushed him to 15-under and gave him a three-shot lead over Niemann at the time.

 

Merritt followed that with a bogey 5 at No. 12 after a wayward tee shot.

"I'm not going to say that my adrenaline was pumping or that I was feeling anything, you know, off about my driver swing on 12; I just hit a poor shot," Merritt said. "And I hit a poor one on 13, but then got it right back in the groove until that one on 18 that I pulled left. But no, I had time to recover, I just hit a poor shot on 12."

Lebioda tied Scott Stallings with low round of the day, closing with three birdies and no bogeys on the back nine. He had four birdies and a bogey 4 at the fifth hole on the front nine. His final birdie at No. 17 came after his eagle chip slid just to the right of the cup.

"The way this course is playing, (there are) quite a few birdies (and) it will probably be the same (Sunday), so I'll get my cracks," said Lebioda, who is looking for his first career PGA Tour victory. "(Don't) get ahead of myself or to kind of lose patience early if I'm not getting them to fall right away."

 

PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson shot his second consecutive round of even-par 72 on Saturday and was tied for 70th place at 3-under.

The 22-year-old Niemann, who has two runner-up finishes in Hawaii this season and entered the week ranked No. 30 in the world, isn't looking for any added motivation to finish off his first 2020-21 victory.

"I know that I've been pretty close, I've been playing great golf," Niemann said. "I'm not thinking about that, I'm thinking every week what is going on and trying to figure out my game. Yeah, I'm not thinking of I should have won in Hawaii or whatever, I just stay in the present and try to enjoy what I'm doing right now and have fun (Sunday) and hopefully get the win.

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