Todd shoots 1-under 69 for lead in Memphis
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Brendon Todd shot a 1-under 69 on Saturday at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the World Golf Championship event.
Todd started the third round with a two-stroke lead. He had five birdies and four bogeys to put him at 13-under 198 on a nearly perfect day at TPC Southwind with the temperature in the 70s.
He’s looking for his fourth career victory and third since last fall. This is Todd’s second 54-hole lead since the PGA Tour’s return to play. He shot a 75 in the final round of the Travelers Championship and tied for 11th.
Byeong Hun An of South Korea, who had four straight birdies on the back nine, finished with a 66. Rickie Fowler was two strokes back after a 69.
Defending champ Brooks Koepka struggled early before he reeled off six birdies in eight holes for a 68. He was fourth at 9 under.
Justin Thomas, who can become No. 1 in the world with a victory here, was fifth at 8 under after a 66. He won on this course in 2018 before the event became a World Golf Championship in 2019. Phil Mickelson (66) and Louis Ooosthuizen (68) were in a group five strokes back.
Todd started where he left off Friday, rolling in a 14-footer for birdie on No. 1 to reach 12 under. Todd couldn’t get out of the rough on the par-4 No. 5 on the way to only his second bogey of the tournament.
Fowler holed out from the green-side rough on the par-5 third to pull within two. He then joined Todd atop the leaderboard on No. 7. He hit his second shot from 190 yards to 9 feet and made the putt for birdie.
Todd took the lead back to himself on the next hole with a 22-foot birdie putt on the par-3 eighth. Fowler answered with a 17-foot birdie putt on No. 9, making the turn with his third birdie and a share of the lead at 12 under. Todd pushed his own birdie chance just right of the hole.
Fowler took the lead to himself for the first time when Todd bogeyed No. 10 to start the back nine. Todd hit into the rough off the tee and couldn’t sink a 13-footer to save par. Todd sunk a 15-footer for birdie on No. 12, taking back the lead when Fowler two-putted from 13 feet for bogey.
Todd hit his approach 166 yards to 3 feet on No. 13 for his shortest birdie putt of the day and a twostroke lead. But Todd found the water just short of the green on the par-3 14th and threw his hat in disgust at his shot. A bogey dropped him to 12 under.
He made up for it with a 16-foot birdie putt on the par-5 No. 16 for a two-stroke lead again. But he couldn’t get up and down from the rough off the fringe of the green on No. 17 for his fourth bogey.
Tom Lewis tied the course record with a 61. He was tied for 10th at 6 under.
PGA Tour Champions
GRAND BLANC, Mich. – Brett Quigley was so excited to be competing again he could barely break par. He settled down for an 8-under 64 and a oneshot lead in the Ally Challenge, the first PGA Tour Champions event in five months.
Quigley played bogey-free at Warwick Hills. Monday qualifier Carlos Franco also had a 64 with two eagles and was in the group one shot behind that included Jim Furyk (66) in his debut on the 50-andolder circuit.
Tommy Armour also was within one shot of the lead after a birdie on the once-rowdy par-3 17th and an 8-foot par save from the back bunker for a 68.
Quigley was at 11-under 133 as he tries to win for the second time this year on the PGA Tour Champions. He won a new tournament in Morocco, and just over a month later, the tour shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He couldn’t wait to get started again, and then he promptly bogeyed his opening hole on Friday.
“I was trying to shoot 20 under the front nine yesterday. I was just trying to force everything after being off for so long,” Quigley said. “A little more relaxed today. … Made a bunch of birdies it looks pretty good.” Furyk looms as perhaps his biggest challenger. He was among three players, including Mike Weir and K.J. Choi, who turned 50 while the PGA Tour Champions was shut down. Furyk, a past winner at Warwick Hills when it hosted the Buick Open on the PGA Tour, will try to become the first player to win his Champions debut since Miguel Angel Jimenez at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in 2014.
Furyk won the Buick Open in 2003 and twice was a runner-up. On the PGA Tour, he shot par or better 59 out of his 60 rounds at Warwick Hills. He said the secret was to keep it in the short grass and take advantage of wedges and short irons. That worked when he was younger, and he expects the same now.
“When I was playing well, I did a lot of damage here,” Furyk said.
European Tour
BIRMINGHAM, England – Sam Horsfield will take a one-shot lead into the final day of the Hero Open despite leading by six strokes at one stage in the third round of the European Tour’s latest stop in England.
After holding a share of the overnight lead, the Englishman made five birdies on the front nine and looked in total control at the Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel and Country Club.
But Horsfield would make just one gain on the way home, giving up three bogeys and a double to sign for a 1-under 71 and a 14-under 202 total that left him one shot ahead of Wales’ Oliver Farr, Danish teenager Rasmus Hojgaard and Mikko Korhonen of Finland.
“My caddie just said to me coming off the 18th green, ‘If someone would have said to you on Thursday you can have a one shot lead going into Sunday, you would take it,’” Horsfield told europeantour.com.
“I’ve made it a little bit harder for myself from the position I was in but I’m still looking forward to tomorrow, it’ll be a lot of fun.”
Like Horsfield, Farr is also searching for a first European Tour win and he was hopeful his three victories on the second-tier Challenge Tour would hold him in good stead after a 5-under 67.