By Bruce Adams
badams@21st-centurymedia.com
FLOURTOWN – With solid play down the stretch, Shane Lowry and Sepp Straka are tied for the lead at 14-under-par after three rounds of the Truist Championship Saturday on Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course.
Both Straka and Lowry birdied the 17th hole, a 498 yard par 4 that is considered one of the most difficult holes on the course. On the tough final six holes Saturday, Straka was 2-under-par, Lowry 1-under par.
Lowry, the 2019 British Open champion, said, “I’ve put a lot into it the last two years, I’ve worked very hard. Starting to see some rewards is good. Obviously you want trophies, and that’s going to be my goal tomorrow.
“If it happens, it would be great. If it doesn’t, I’ll dust myself off and go to Quail Hollow and try my best there. … I think, if I allow myself to be me (Sunday), I can achieve what I want to achieve.”
After wet conditions on Friday, the winds picked up for Saturday’s round.
“It was very tough today in those winds, particularly tough to hole putts,” said Lowry. “When you get inside 10 feet, to be really precise on those greens was tough.”
Straka, who nailed a 24 foot putt for his birdie on No. 17, is leading the field in strokes gained and putting. He spoke of his work last fall on his putting.
“I tried to get a little bit of a stronger grip,” said Straka. “My grip was pretty weak last year, and I had a pretty bad year putting. I just changed my setup a little bit because of it. Hands got a little higher. Yeah, it (my putting) has been good this year.”
Straka, who won The American Express in January — his third PGA tour victory – was asked about dealing with the stress that comes with winning a golf tournament.
“You’re definitely going to have (stress),” said Straka. “So you just – all you can do is try to focus on what you can control, and that is your target, try to hit your number, and try to make a good swing. That’s pretty much it.”
Straka was paired Saturday with Justin Thomas, who is tied for third place at 11-under-par after a third round 66.
“JT always has a big following,” said Straka. “JT and I have had a nice back and forth. I’ve played with him since junior golf days, and it was a really fun group out there.”
Thomas, who won the RBG Heritage in April, sunk a 27-foot birdie putt after a 5-iron approach on the 18th hole Saturday. His score of 66 included bogeys on two par 5s, the fifth hole and the 15th hole.
When asked how the golf course has fought back against even lower scores this week, Thomas responded, “I’d say the weather did. I mean, it’s not fair to say that this course is too easy or too hard, given the certain conditions. You could say that about a lot of places.
“The biggest difference for us is soft greens. So when the greens are soft, we can always salvage decent scores. Then, if we don’t have days like (Friday) or wind like (Saturday), we’re going to shoot low.”
Keith Mitchell, the first and second round leader, bogeyed two holes in the back nine, the par 4 10th hole and the 122 yard par 3 14th hole, to finish with a 1-over-par 71 and fall back to 11 under par, three strokes out of the lead. On Thursday, he set the course record, a 61.
“The first day (Thursday) was pretty easy, you can attack,” said Mitchell. (Friday) was pretty tough, hitting a lot of long clubs in. Today (Saturday) if you had downwind, you had to be really careful with the front pins. Then into the wind, they put a lot on the slope, so you had to really kind of stay away from these.
“The game plan is always to try to find the green below the hole, if you can do that. If not, you’ve got to kind of take what you can get.”
The hottest round Saturday belonged to Hideki Matsuyama, who fired a 7-under-par 63 that included five birdies and a bogey on the last six holes. He bogeyed the par 5 15th hole, then birdied the last three holes. He stands alone in fifth place at 10-under-par.
Six golfers were tied for sixth place at 8-under-par – defending champion Rory McIlroy, Tony Finau, Nick Taylor, Sungjae Im and Sam Burns.
Finau, whose 67 included a double-bogey on the 240-yard par-3 eighth hole, said, “Today was windy, so I feel like the golf course is kind of holding its own. There were some really good scores, but overall a proper test of golf. I think it’s going to be a good one tomorrow.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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