Kisner/Brown team for 1-shot Zurich lead

AVONDALE, La. — Kevin Kisner had another great day at TPC Louisiana, rolling in putts seemingly from everywhere. Teammate Scott Brown wasn’t having as much success, but a clutch birdie on the closing hole gave the duo a oneshot lead heading into the final round of the Zurich Classic.

Kisner holed three birdie putts from 20 feet or more and teamed with Brown to shoot an 8-under 64 in better ball on Saturday. They topped a crowded leaderboard that featured 13 teams within four shots of the lead.

“It was a dogfight for us today,” Brown said. “I felt like Kevin played great. I kind of left him high and dry a couple times.”

But Brown came up big on the par-5 18th when his third shot from a greenside bunker settled within 2 feet.

Kisner and Brown started the round one shot off the lead and made five birdies on the front nine. The back nine wasn’t as smooth, with two bogeys mixed in with five more birdies, giving the team a three-day total of 20-under 196.

“We had a chance to probably run away a little bit and we just couldn’t ever get two balls in good position on the back nine,” Kisner said. “Still leading the golf tournament. Feel good. In the right position, where we need to go.”

The duo lost on the fourth hole of a playoff to Cameron Smith and Jonas Blixt last year at TPC Louisiana, the first for the Zurich as a team event.

They’ll face plenty of challengers today when the tournament returns to the more difficult alternateshot format.

Tony Finau and Daniel Summerhays shot a bogeyfree 63, and Michael Kim and Andrew Putnam teamed for a 66.

Both teams shot back.

Summerhays and Finau, both from Utah, played together were one last year at TPC Louisiana but missed the cut.