Snedeker leads at stormy Wyndham
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Brandt Snedeker is bracing for a long last day at the Wyndham Championship.
Snedeker held a three-stroke lead Saturday when the third round was suspended because of severe weather. He was 16 under for the tournament with 11 holes left in the round at the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season – and is preparing for the grind of playing 29 holes. Snedeker says he’s had a few 36-hole days on tour and hopes his adrenalin takes over when he plays the back nine for the final time.
“I’ve got to be really smart about making sure I’m staying hydrated and more than anything else, making sure I don’t have any mental lapses,” Snedeker said. “Kind of the hardest (thing) to do when it’s hot, humid, you’re out there all day. The physical side, we’re used to. Just, you mentally get fatigued and fried make some mistakes. The key for tomorrow – make sure I don’t do that.”
Brian Gay was 13 under through 12 holes, and Trey Mullinax, Keith Mitchell, C.T. Pan and D.A. Points were another stroke back at varying stages of their rounds.
Thirty players were still on the course when play was halted during the mid-afternoon with thunder booming and a threat of lightning.
After a 3-hour, 23-minute delay, organizers chose to hold things up overnight and resume the round at 8 a.m. Sunday. They said they expect the final round to begin in the late morning, grouping the players in threesomes starting from both the first and 10th tees.
When the tournament restarts, Snedeker – who opened with a 59 to become the first tour player this year and just the 10th ever to break 60 – will look to keep himself in position to contend for his ninth victory on tour and his first since the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open.
He said his target final score is 22 under – Henrik Stenson’s tournamentrecord score from last year – because “I think it’s hard for other guys to get there.”
Snedeker, the 2012 FedEx Cup champion, won the tournament in 2007, the year before it moved across town to par-70 Sedgefield Country Club.
Snedeker’s final 11 holes of the round could wind up being telling: In seven of the 10 previous years since the tournament’s move to this course, the thirdround leader or co-leader has gone on to win.
And every leader who finished the third round here at 16 under or better has wound up winning, including Stenson (16 under) last year and Si Woo Kim (18 under) in 2016.
Snedeker started the day off strong, rolling in a 60-foot chip for birdie on the par-4 second hole, then pushed his lead to three strokes with a birdie on No. 5 that moved him to 16 under.
LPGA Tour
INDIANAPOLIS – Lizette Salas shot an 8-under 64 on Saturday to take a twoshot lead over Sung Hyun Park and Amy Yang after the third round of the Indy Women in Tech Championship.
The 29-year-old former Southern California player hasn’t won on the LPGA Tour since 2014.
She took the lead with a birdie on the par-4, 16th – after Park hit her approach into the water en route to a double bogey.
PGA Tour Champions
ENDICOTT, N.Y. – Michael Bradley shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday to take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the PGA Tour Champions’ Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.
The 52-year-old Bradley had five birdies and a bogey in the rain-delayed round to reach 11-under 133 at En-Joie Golf Club. A four-time winner on the PGA Tour, he’s seeking his first victory on the 50-andover tour.
US Amateur
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Viktor Hovland of Norway and UCLA sophomore Devon Bling won Saturday to advance to the U.S. Amateur final at Pebble Beach.
Hovland, a junior at Oklahoma State, made six birdies on seven holes on the back nine to knock off Texas teen Cole Hammer 3 and 2.
Hovland became the first U.S. Amateur finalist from Norway.