Todd (66) scrambles to lead at Deere
Brendon Todd scrambled for par on the par-4 18th to take a one-stroke lead Saturday in the John Deere Classic at Silvis, Ill., holing a 12-foot putt after drawing an awkward stance near a fairway bunker.
Todd had a 5-under-par 66 in breezy conditions to reach 16-under 197 at TPC Deere Run. The three-time PGA Tour winner drove close to the left fairway bunker on 18, forcing him to hit with his left foot in grass and his right foot well below in the sand. He advanced it 65 yards to set up a 105-yard wedge.
Todd eagled the par-5 second, holing a 25-footer, and birdied Nos. 13, 15, and 16. The 37-yearold former Georgia player won the 2014 Byron Nelson and added victories in consecutive starts in November 2019 in Bermuda and Mexico.
Alex Smalley (62), Denny McCarthy (66), and Adam Schenk (67) were tied for second.
McCarthy eagled the par-4 14th, hitting a 342drive onto the green and making a 30-foot putt, then rebounded from a bogey on 16 with a birdie on 17.
US Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson, form nearby Iowa and a past John Deere champion, was tied for 39th at 8 under after a 67. He made the cut Friday on the number.
LIV — British Open champion Cameron Smith overcame a pair of bogeys at the start to post a 4under-par 67, giving him a three-shot lead at LIV Golf-London at Hemel Hempstead, England.
Smith is playing his final event ahead of his British Open title defense in two weeks at Royal Liverpool. The Australian has yet to win this year.
Thomas Pieters, who joined LIV at the start of the season, had an even rougher time at Centurion Club. Along with a double bogey on the first hole, he dropped another shot at the seventh. But his birdie on the seventh was the start of three in a row, and Pieters shot 31 on the back nine to stay in the game with a 67.
Marc Leishman was slowed by back-to-back bogeys early on the back nine and shot 69. Leishman and Pieters were joined at 9-under 133 by Louis Oosthuizen, who was 9 under for his round with four holes to play and had to settle for a 63.
Smith was at 12-under 130 going into the third and final round. His last victory was the LIV event outside Chicago last September.
In the team competition, Smith's Ripper Golf Club was at 23 under and led by one over Stinger, with Oosthuizen as the captain.
Smash has been in the news for the wrong reasons. The captain, PGA champion Brooks Koepka, took to the media to unload on teammate Matthew Wolff, criticizing him of quitting on rounds and not working. Wolff responded by saying he still was working on mental health and it was heartbreaking to hear Koepka’s criticism.
Koepka shot 66. Wolff 's two eagles were offset by four bogeys in his round of 69. Smash was in seventh place out of 12 teams.
DP World — Nacho Elvira double-bogeyed his last hole, which reduced his lead to one shot over Robert MacIntyre before the last round of the Made in HimmerLand at Farso, Denmark.
Elvira was at 13 under after three rounds of the European tour event, one ahead of MacIntyre and two ahead of another Scot, Richie Ramsay.