Stuard, Hahn, Percy share Safeway Open lead at Silverado
Brian Stuard closes with a scrambling birdie to card 6-under 66; third round leader Sam Burns struggles to 72.
Published : Sep 13, 2020 09:50 IST
Brian Stuard closed with a scrambling birdie for a 6-under 66 share of the Safeway Open lead on Saturday with James Hahn and Cameron Percy.
On a day when eight players held or shared the lead, the trio of Stuard, Hahn and Percy emerged in front despite all three running into trouble at various times at Silverado Resort.
Stuard, who began the day five shots off the lead, hit only 10 of 14 fairways off the tee and had six birdies, including three straight on the front nine. He made a 7-foot putt on the par-5 18th after finding the rough.
Percy had a 68 to join the group at 16-under 200. He nearly took himself out of the hunt after bogeys on Nos. 11 and 14, but bounced back with birdies on two of the final three holes.
Third-round leader Sam Burns struggled to a 72 that left him tied with Kristoffer Ventura (66) and Harry Higgs (70) at 15 under.
Emiliano Grillo (65), Stewart Cink (65), Doug Ghim (69), D.J. Trahan (70) and Russell Knox (70) were 14 under.
Lahiri tied-33rd India's Anirban Lahiri kept his card clear of bogeys for the second day running as he returned a five-under 67, which included an eagle on the 18th, to be tied-33rd. The performance took Lahiri to 10-under for 54 holes. The leading trio was 16-under, while overnight leader, Sam Burns (72) shot even-par and was still at 15-under but was T-4 with Kristoffer Ventura (66) and Harry Higgs (70). Lahiri, whose last bogey came on his ninth hole in the first round, where he started from the 10th, has now played 45 holes without a bogey. He hit 15 of the 18 greens in regulation during his third round. Lahiri started the day with a string of four pars, before reaching the green in two and two-putting from 69 feet for a birdie on par-five fifth. He continued to be steady and had a birdie chance on the seventh, when his 15-foot attempt slipped past two inches. But on the ninth, he holed a 10-footer to turn in two-under. An excellent approach from 134 yards saw him land his second shot less than two feet for a third birdie. On 17th, he had a birdie chance from 13 feet but two-putted. Finally on the par-five 18th, Lahiri hit a brilliant second shot from 269-yards to nine feet and he holed it for a closing eagle. - PTI |