Strong 3rd round pushes Points into contention
After struggling to crack the top-50 mark in a PGA Tour event this season, D.A. Points is tied for second at 7 under through three rounds at the FedEx St. Jude Classic.
“I had a really good lesson with Brad Faxon about a month ago, and I’ve slowly been able to really implement the stuff that he and I chatted about,” said Points, who is tied with Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker entering Sunday’s final round of the FESJC.
“I’ve gotten a lot more free and a little more athletic, and I’m not trying to be so precise on the green.”
Faxon, now on the Champions Tour, is widely considered one of the game’s greatest putters. He told Points his putting issues didn’t come from technique, but rather from his tempo and mentality.
“I used to always use the line on the ball, and I used to be really methodical and very precise about that line,” Points said. “Now I almost don’t use it at all. I tried to just keep my tempo or my pace of going into the putts the same the whole day, and try to keep it at maybe a slightly faster pace and it’s good because I think I spent less time trying to figure everything out.”
The 46-year-old Illinois native shot a 6-under 64 Saturday, his second-best round of the season. Points has improved each round of the tournament so far, shooting a 1-over 71 in the first round and a 2-under 68 in the second round.
“I haven’t had a lot of low rounds lately and all of a sudden, in Dallas (at the AT&T Byron Nelson) a couple weeks ago, I shot 62 and it kind of gave me a little bit of a punch in the arm like ‘Hey, I can do this.’ ” Points said.
Points moved through the third round bogeyfree, while racking up six birdies, causing him to climb up the leaderboard.
“I made some really good free swings early on and then I holed a couple putts,” he said. “I made a really clutch par putt on the seventh hole and when I made that one, I was like, ‘All right.’ I was pretty excited and played really solid. Couple loose swings on the back nine but managed it well and finished with a birdie.”
In 2013, Points racked up three top-10 finishes, including a win at the Shell Houston Open and a runner-up finish at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. But he currently sits at 808th in the 2016 official world golf rankings.
“After I had a great year in 2013 I tried to get better and I went about it in the wrong way,” he said. “I hired new instructors and tried so hard to become a better player instead of just looking at what I do really well and trying to be more like that. It’s taken me awhile to kind of see that and dig out of the bottom, but I’m starting my way back hopefully to the top.”
After putting himself in a great position for another top-10 finish, Points said he has no expectations heading into Sunday’s final round.
“Obviously I haven’t been anywhere on the radar for a while to even be like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to show up and shoot another 64 tomorrow and win,’ not saying that would even do it,” he said. “I’m going to try and do exactly what I did today and if I do — awesome. If I don’t — well at least I had the right frame of mind going into it.”