Taylor Pendrith carded a bogey-free 64 to reach 12-under and take his fourth career 36-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA Tour at the 3M Open.
“I’ve been hitting the ball really solidly, been hitting a lot of greens,” said the Canadian. “Today was pretty tricky with the wind, it was blowing pretty hard at times, so my speed was great all day and stayed really patient. I didn’t really have many good looks through the first hour I would say of golf and was able to stay patient and make a couple, made a couple longer ones, which was nice.
“Today especially I feel like I had some in-between numbers and chose the smart club and hit it to 40 feet and kind of took my two-putt, take my medicine. Then hit a lot of really quality shots and was able to make some birdies.
“Driving the ball in play here is key. And hitting the greens, the greens are fairly big so you do have to have good speed on the greens, but I’ve been able to do all three of those.”
American Matt NeSmith who lost in a playoff two weeks ago at the ISCO Championship also shot a 64 featuring an eagle at the par-5 12th to move into solo second place at 10-under.
“I played really solid. I’ve been putting really well for the last three
weeks or so, it’s been very hot. I’ve just been working on it, it’s finally starting to come through. Played some really nice golf,” said NeSmith.
“I’ve been out here, this is my fifth year now. [Tjat runner-up finish] was I would say the closest I’ve been to winning a golf tournament since I’ve been here. It was just nice to be back in the thick of it and it was nice to show myself that I could do it again. It’s been a long time, since the Korn Ferry in 2019 in Boise, Idaho. It was nice to be in contention and have a chance to win a golf tournament. I definitely felt more comfortable coming down the stretch today and hopefully that will lead on to the weekend.”
Fellow American Andrew Putnam (bogey-free 64) and Jocaob Bridgeman (70), who held the overnight lead, are tied in third place at 9-under.
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