Four share Texas Open’s top spot
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Brandt Snedeker and Beau Hossler each shot rounds of 5-under 67 to join J.J. Spaun and Dylan Frittelli atop the leaderboard after the third round of the Valero Texas Open on Saturday.
Both Spaun, who shot 69, and Frittelli (70) finished with a share of the lead at 10-under 206.
A final-hole bogey kept Scott Stallings out of the lead. He also shot 65 and was a shot back at 9-under. Matt Kuchar’s bogey at 18 dropped him to 8-under after an even-par round.
Spaun birdied four of his five holes heading to the 18th to take a one-shot lead. At the 17th he drove the green at the 303-yard par-4 and almost made the 19-foot eagle. However, he pushed his tee shot on 18 into the trees, punched out, then laid up short of the stream that guards the final green. He ended up with a 22-foot putt for par that he missed.
“If you told me this Tuesday like, ‘Hey, you’re going to be tied for the lead going into Sunday,’ I would totally take it,” Spaun said. “Yeah, bogey on the last hole, but I think it could have been worse. So I’m not too bummed out about that.”
Second-round leader Ryan Palmer didn’t have a bogey Friday. On Saturday he didn’t have a birdie and dropped to 21st place with a 5-over 77.
With a bogey-free round, Snedeker was 4-under on the backside. He is looking for his first win since 2018. It would be his 10th tour victory.
Spaun and Hossler are each looking for his first tour win and Frittelli won in 2019 at the John Deere Classic.
LPGA: In Rancho Mirage, Calif., Jennifer Kupcho started fast and kept on going Saturday in The Chevron Championship to take a six-stroke lead into the last round at Mission Hills in the major championship.
Kupcho shot an 8-under 64 on anther hot and sunny afternoon in the Coachella Valley for a tournamentrecord 16-under 200 total. Defending champion Patty Tavatanakit, playing alongside Kupcho in the secondto-last group, was second after a 70.
Kupcho broke the 54-hole record of 14 under set by Pernilla Lindberg in 2018 and matched by Tavatanakit last year. Dottie Pepper set the 72-hole mark of 19-under 269 in 1999.
Jessica Korda was third at 9 under after a 67.
AUGUSTA WOMEN’S AMATEUR: In Augusta, Ga., 16-year-old Anna Davis got into the mix with two birdies around Amen Corner, closed with a 3-under 69 and took the title Saturday when Latanna Stone collapsed over the final two holes at Augusta National.
“I’m still a little shocked,” said Davis, the youngest winner in three years of the tournament. The victory gets her into the U.S. Women’s Open in June.
Stone, a junior at LSU, appeared to have the tournament in hand when she birdied the par-3 16th for a two-shot lead. But Stone double-bogeyed the 17th and bogeyed 18, leaving Davis as the only player under par of the 30 who made the cut. She finished at 1-under 215.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS: In Biloxi, Miss., Steven Alker, a 50-year-old from New Zealand, shot a tournament-record 10-under 62 to take a one-stroke lead over Bob Estes after the second round of the Rapiscan Systems Classic. Alker had an 11-under 133 total at Grand Bear Golf Club.