PGA Tour rookie Ben Griffin shot his low 18-hole score on Tour, a 9-under 63 featuring an eagle at the par-5 14th, to take a two shot lead at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
“It’s a golf course I really like,” said Griffin. “I feel really comfortable out on it. Bermudagrass is one of my favorites to putt on and even chip on. It gets kind of grainy and I feel like I’m able to take advantage of the sharpness of my short game, and it can expose some guys this week. I haven’t had to use my short game really a ton. Hit a lot of greens the first two rounds, gave myself a lot of putts, and today everything was pretty much solid.
“I maybe had like one kind of hiccup and was able to get up-and-down. Other than that, I kept the ball in front of me. Missed it in the right spots. That’s crucial in this game, manage misses and play angle golf a lot of times to some of these pins. It was just really solid. Made a good amount of putts, and just trying to keep doing the same stuff. I know it’s repetitive”
The American holds his first 36-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA Tour in his 111th round. His best finish so far is T3 at the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship in his eighth Tour start where he shot a career-best 129 in the opening 36 holes.
Fellow rookie Harrison Endycott birdied his final three holes to post his sixth round of 65 or better in his 29th start on Tour and matched his best opening 36-hole score of 132 at the 2022 Bermuda Championship where he also notched his lone top-10 (10th).
“I’ve been putting in some really hard work over the last couple weeks,” said the Australian. “I think I was dead last in putting in Napa after Friday and wasn’t like I was putting bad. It felt a lot closer than what it was. They just weren’t going in.
“When the coach rang me and said, what’s going on, I don’t know. Like they’re just not going in. So did some really good work over the last couple weeks. Swing feels great.
“Game has just been trending in the right spot, and it was nice to play well the last couple days.”
Joining Endycott in second place at 12-under are American Luke List (66), China’s Carl Yuan (66) and Sweden’s Henrik Norlander (67).
