DeChambeau builds 4-shot lead
PARAMUS, N.J. — Bryson DeChambeau kept pouring in birdies as everyone around him went the other direction Saturday in The Northern Trust.
DeChambeau finished with two birdies, making an 18-foot putt on the last hole to cap off his 8-under 63 that gave him a four-shot lead over Keegan Bradley. Along with seizing control of the opening FedEx Cup playoff event, DeChambeau might make it tough for Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk to ignore him.
He narrowly missed earning one of the eight automatics spots on the U.S. team. Furyk makes three of his picks a week from Tuesday.
DeChambeau made nine birdies, four in a five-hole stretch to start pulling away.
What made him stand out, even more than his tam o’shanter cap and single-length shafts, was all the stars around him were in reverse. Of the final 10 players to tee off, DeChambeau and Adam Scott were the only ones to break par. Scott had to birdie three of his last four holes for a 70.
Brooks Koepka, who shared the 36-hole lead with Jamie Lovemark, had a 13hole stretch in the middle of his round with three bogeys and 10 pars. He shot 72 and fell seven shots behind. Dustin Johnson, who started the day tied with DeChambeau, added a double bogey to a week that already included two triple bogeys. Johnson birdied his last hole for a 72 to fall nine shots back.
Scott was one shot behind when he made two bogeys, then chopped up the par-3 11th for a double bogey.
“I really switched off there for five holes and made a mess of things around the turn,” Scott said. “Might have shot myself out of the tournament. We’ll see how it goes tomorrow, but it’s going to be costly and make life difficult for me to win this thing now.”
Bradley finished his round about an hour after the leaders teed off, making five birdies over his last seven holes for a 62. He was leading at the time and figured he would be at least a few shots behind when the third round ended.
He might not have expected DeChambeau to be the one he was chasing.
“Just looking at who is at the top of the leaderboard, when I got to 10, I was like any birdie from here on out is really going to be big going into tomorrow,” Bradley said.
Tony Finau (66) and Cameron Smith of Australian (65) were five shots behind, with Billy Horschel (65) and Scott another shot back. Jordan Spieth finally got his putter going and shot a 64, leaving him seven shots behind but in a tie for seventh, boosting his bid to return to the Tour Championship.