Harold Varner III shoots 63 to take the RBC Heritage lead
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S. C. » Harold Varner III shot an 8- under 63 to take a one- shot lead in the RBC Heritage on Saturday in pursuit of his first PGA Tour victory.
Varner had eight birdies in a bogey- free round to match Cameron Young’s opening score as the lowest at Harbour Town Golf Links this week. Varner had an 11- under 202.
Varner will need to be just as crisp Sunday. Fedex Cup champion Patrick Cantlay, 2019 British Open winner Shane Lowry of Ireland and Erik van Rooyen of South Africa were a shot back.
Cantlay, the second- round leader, had a 70. Lowry shot 65, and van Rooyen had a 67.
Former RBC Heritage champ Matt Kuchar, Hudson Swafford, Sepp Straka and Aaron Wise were 9 under. Swafford shot 66, Kuchar and Straka 67 and Wise 68.
Varner has two international victories, winning the Australian PGA Championship in 2016 and the Saudi International in February.
He appeared to shoot himself out of contention with his Friday finish, going 4 over his final four holes for a 72. But it was a ruling on the sixth that angered Varner — and fueled him for Saturday.
Varner’s tee shot on the par- 4 sixth was called out- of- bounds. Varner told officials that he saw a spectator pick up the ball that was eventually identified as Varner’s and he may have put it back beyond the out- ofbounds marker.
The decision stood, Varner made a double bogey and fumed about it. “I would say I’m really good at putting things aside, but I did not put that aside,” he said.
Instead, he used the frustrating finish to fuel his run to the top. Varner birdied four of his first six holes — including that troublesome sixth — and took the lead with a 10footer on the 16th.
Harbour Town is far from Varner’s preferred layout — “It’s my favorite because we can drive here,” said Varner, who lives in Gastonia, N. C.— even though he tied for second here last year and has shot in the 60s in six of his past seven rounds.
Varner said every shot here is “super uncomfortable.”
“I feel like I’m always kind of guiding it out there,” he said. “But if you can guide it out there for 72 holes, you can do some damage.”
Lowry said conditions, particularly the gusts of 20 mph or more Friday, had eased and made the tricky course defenseless.
Lowry, too, bounced back from a 72 on Friday to get within a shot of the lead. He was choppy at first, following birdies on the second and fifth holes with bogeys on the next one. But he steadied himself after that for a 65, matching his career low at Harbour Town. He’ll need more of that Sunday if he hopes for his third career tour win and first since the British Open in 2019.