Fleetwood takes hack at record
With his birdie-eagle finish, Thomas ended up in a tie for second at 11-under, one stroke behind Harman. Fleetwood and Koepka shared second place with Thomas.
Among those Thomas leapfrogged Saturday was fellow American Patrick Reed, who was the early leader in the clubhouse Saturday at eightunder after carding a 65.
Thomas is a third-generation pro, with his grandfather Paul having played in the U.S. Open and his father, Mike, the head pro at Harmony Landing Country Club in the family’s hometown of Goshen, Ky.
“He’s not afraid. He never was,” Mike told New York Newsday, after he joked that he and his wife had “bribed” their way into the stands on No. 18 to watch their son chase history. “I just knew he was going to make it. This is what he does.”
Fleetwood, a 26-year-old from England, looked as if he might challenge Rory McIlroy’s 54-hole tournament record of 14-under from 2011 when he made his fifth birdie (against no bogeys) to get to12-under with three holes to play. But the longhitting Fleetwood made a sloppy bogey at the 18th for a 68.
Harman, 30, who won his second career tour title in May at the Wells Fargo Championship, posted a 67 on a course that was softened by an overnight rainstorm. In Sunday’s final round, he and the 15 other top players will be looking for their first major championship.
This is how well Thomas played: He had six threes on his scorecard on the last seven holes (which play to a par of 28), including four in a row to punctuate the round.
The highlight of Thomas’s round was a birdie putt on No. 5. Standing perpendicular to the hole, Thomas aimed toward the fringe of the green and watched as the ball made a 90degree turn and rolled in.
“That’s how dialed up he was,” said Jonathan Randolph, who played with Thomas and shot a 73. “When stuff like that starts going in, you might as well make it a special day.”
At five-foot-10 and 145 pounds, Thomas is built like a 3-iron. He is perhaps pound for pound the longest hitter in men’s golf, as he demonstrated on the par-five 18th by taking his 3-wood and crushing a shot that travelled more than 300 yards and came to rest six feet from the pin.
Thomas waited as Randolph hit his third, fourth and fifth shots before taking aim at his history-making 63.
Thomas’s ball rolled into the heart of the hole.
“Obviously, the finish was awesome,” he told reporters. “I’d love to have another one of those.”
During the long walk from the 18th green to the scoring area, Thomas and Randolph talked about the upcoming Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn., where they both are scheduled to compete. Randolph, 28, said he had no idea what score Thomas had shot until he asked him in the scoring room. He said that Thomas replied, “a 63, I think.”
When Randolph realized he had been a witness to history, he panicked. The scorecard he used to tally Thomas’ numbers did not fit into his back pants pocket, so he had ripped off the bottom edge.
It most definitely was not ready for the World Golf Hall of Fame, he said. “I felt pretty guilty,” Randolph said, adding, “I told him I could redo it if they needed me to.” With files from Newsday