Ben Griffin carded a bogey-free 66 on Saturday to stay in the lead by three shots at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
“I felt like [66] was a good goal, try to get three on each side. I knew it was going to be windy and I needed to make sure I missed it in the right spots. Felt like I left myself a lot of 20-, 30-footers, but it was on holes where I needed to do, so if I had missed it on the wrong side, I was going to be scrambling to try to make pars.
“Was very proud of myself the way I stuck to the game plan, and I missed a few tee shots on the back nine but was able to escape, and that’s always been one of the strengths of my career.
“As much as I want to be aggressive, I’ve learned on the PGA Tour you’ve got to be extremely disciplined. It’s fun when I mis-hit shots because it gives me the opportunity to pull off something creative, but it’s a lot more fun when you have stress-free golf, and I felt like I did a good job of that for probably 14, 15 holes today.”
At 20-under 196 Griffin equalled the championship 54-hole record (Steve Lowery/2000, Scott Stallings/2012).
He fell one stroke shy of his best 54-hole score on Tour, a 195 at the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship where he also got his best finish in 36 starts on Tour (T3).
China’s Carl Yuan shot a 67 for a career-best 54-hole score of 199 and solo second place at 17-under.
Americans Scott Stallings (65) and Luke List (68) are tied in third at 16-under alongside Sweden’s Henrik Norlander (68).
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Griffin | -20 | 67 | 63 | 66 | 196 |
| 2 | Carl Yuan | -17 | 66 | 66 | 67 | 199 |
| T3 | Scott Stallings | -16 | 68 | 67 | 65 | 200 |
| T3 | Henrik Norlander | -16 | 65 | 67 | 68 | 200 |
| T3 | Luke List | -16 | 66 | 66 | 68 | 200 |
| T6 | Cameron Champ | -15 | 67 | 69 | 65 | 201 |
| T6 | Zecheng Dou | -15 | 67 | 66 | 68 | 201 |
| T8 | Adam Svensson | -14 | 67 | 69 | 66 | 202 |
| T8 | Ludvig Åberg | -14 | 67 | 69 | 66 | 202 |
| 10 | Christiaan Bezuidenhout | -13 | 66 | 69 | 68 | 203 |
| T11 | Mark Hubbard | -12 | 69 | 68 | 67 | 204 |
| T11 | Joel Dahmen | -12 | 69 | 67 | 68 | 204 |
| T11 | Erik van Rooyen | -12 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 204 |
| T11 | Troy Merritt | -12 | 68 | 65 | 71 | 204 |
| T15 | Chad Ramey | -11 | 70 | 68 | 67 | 205 |
| T15 | Tom Hoge | -11 | 71 | 65 | 69 | 205 |
| T15 | Harry Higgs | -11 | 69 | 64 | 72 | 205 |
| T18 | Richy Werenski | -10 | 70 | 69 | 67 | 206 |
| T18 | Alex Smalley | -10 | 70 | 69 | 67 | 206 |
| T18 | Brett White | -10 | 68 | 70 | 68 | 206 |
| T18 | Lanto Griffin | -10 | 67 | 70 | 69 | 206 |
| T18 | C.T. Pan | -10 | 68 | 69 | 69 | 206 |
| T18 | Chesson Hadley | -10 | 64 | 69 | 73 | 206 |
| T18 | Harrison Endycott | -10 | 67 | 65 | 74 | 206 |
| T25 | Nick Hardy | -9 | 68 | 70 | 69 | 207 |
| T25 | Tommy Gainey | -9 | 71 | 67 | 69 | 207 |
| T25 | Davis Thompson | -9 | 67 | 70 | 70 | 207 |
| T25 | Ryan Palmer | -9 | 69 | 68 | 70 | 207 |
| T25 | Peter Malnati | -9 | 66 | 71 | 70 | 207 |
| T25 | Russell Knox | -9 | 66 | 70 | 71 | 207 |
| T25 | Wesley Bryan | -9 | 67 | 68 | 72 | 207 |
| T25 | Beau Hossler | -9 | 68 | 67 | 72 | 207 |
| T25 | Peter Kuest | -9 | 68 | 67 | 72 | 207 |
| T34 | Kelly Kraft | -8 | 69 | 70 | 69 | 208 |
| T34 | Vince Whaley | -8 | 68 | 70 | 70 | 208 |
| T34 | Tyler Duncan | -8 | 69 | 68 | 71 | 208 |
| T34 | David Lipsky | -8 | 70 | 67 | 71 | 208 |
| T34 | Cody Gribble | -8 | 68 | 69 | 71 | 208 |
| T34 | Martin Laird | -8 | 68 | 68 | 72 | 208 |
| T34 | Matt NeSmith | -8 | 66 | 70 | 72 | 208 |
| T34 | Sam Ryder | -8 | 67 | 69 | 72 | 208 |
| T42 | Scott Harrington | -7 | 71 | 68 | 70 | 209 |
| T42 | Michael Gligic | -7 | 72 | 67 | 70 | 209 |
| T42 | Nicholas Lindheim | -7 | 67 | 71 | 71 | 209 |
| T42 | Kevin Chappell | -7 | 71 | 67 | 71 | 209 |
| T42 | Robert Streb | -7 | 70 | 68 | 71 | 209 |
| T42 | Ross Steelman | -7 | 70 | 68 | 71 | 209 |
| T42 | Cameron Percy | -7 | 70 | 68 | 71 | 209 |
| T42 | Kevin Kisner | -7 | 67 | 70 | 72 | 209 |
| T50 | Chris Baker | -6 | 71 | 68 | 71 | 210 |
| T50 | William McGirt | -6 | 70 | 69 | 71 | 210 |
| T50 | Eric Cole | -6 | 71 | 68 | 71 | 210 |
| T50 | Lee Hodges | -6 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 210 |
| T50 | Lucas Herbert | -6 | 70 | 69 | 71 | 210 |
| T50 | Ted Potter, Jr. | -6 | 69 | 69 | 72 | 210 |
| T50 | Alex Noren | -6 | 69 | 69 | 72 | 210 |
| T50 | Akshay Bhatia | -6 | 66 | 72 | 72 | 210 |
| T50 | Hank Lebioda | -6 | 67 | 71 | 72 | 210 |
| T50 | Ben Martin | -6 | 70 | 68 | 72 | 210 |
| T50 | Andrew Landry | -6 | 70 | 67 | 73 | 210 |
| T50 | Brandt Snedeker | -6 | 68 | 68 | 74 | 210 |
| T62 | Kyle Westmoreland | -5 | 70 | 69 | 72 | 211 |
| T62 | Dylan Frittelli | -5 | 72 | 67 | 72 | 211 |
| T62 | Kramer Hickok | -5 | 70 | 69 | 72 | 211 |
| T62 | Stephan Jaeger | -5 | 71 | 68 | 72 | 211 |
| T62 | Adam Long | -5 | 69 | 69 | 73 | 211 |
| T62 | Garrick Higgo | -5 | 70 | 66 | 75 | 211 |
| T68 | Brandon Wu | -4 | 65 | 74 | 73 | 212 |
| T68 | Doc Redman | -4 | 67 | 70 | 75 | 212 |
| T68 | Austin Cook | -4 | 68 | 69 | 75 | 212 |
| T71 | Callum Tarren | -3 | 71 | 68 | 74 | 213 |
| T71 | Jimmy Walker | -3 | 67 | 72 | 74 | 213 |
| T71 | Ben Taylor | -3 | 69 | 69 | 75 | 213 |
| T74 | Trevor Cone | -2 | 70 | 69 | 75 | 214 |
| T74 | Jonas Blixt | -2 | 71 | 68 | 75 | 214 |
| T74 | Chris Stroud | -2 | 69 | 70 | 75 | 214 |
| 77 | Ford Clegg | -1 | 72 | 65 | 78 | 215 |
| 78 | Jim Herman | 3 | 69 | 70 | 80 | 219 |
| CUT | Dylan Wu | -4 | 68 | 72 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Austin Smotherman | -4 | 70 | 70 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Camilo Villegas | -4 | 71 | 69 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Sean O'Hair | -4 | 69 | 71 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Sam Bennett | -4 | 69 | 71 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Trevor Werbylo | -4 | 70 | 70 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Doug Ghim | -4 | 68 | 72 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Carson Young | -4 | 70 | 70 | - | 140 |
| CUT | S.H. Kim | -4 | 73 | 67 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Zac Blair | -4 | 73 | 67 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Trey Mullinax | -4 | 68 | 72 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Mackenzie Hughes | -4 | 70 | 70 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Patton Kizzire | -4 | 71 | 69 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Chase Parker | -4 | 70 | 70 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Tano Goya | -4 | 74 | 66 | - | 140 |
| CUT | Charley Hoffman | -3 | 68 | 73 | - | 141 |
| CUT | Brice Garnett | -3 | 69 | 72 | - | 141 |
| CUT | MJ Daffue | -3 | 70 | 71 | - | 141 |
| CUT | Brian Gay | -3 | 71 | 70 | - | 141 |
| CUT | Jason Dufner | -3 | 71 | 70 | - | 141 |
| CUT | Tyson Alexander | -3 | 69 | 72 | - | 141 |
| CUT | Ricky Barnes | -3 | 70 | 71 | - | 141 |
| CUT | Kevin Roy | -3 | 71 | 70 | - | 141 |
| CUT | Augusto Núñez | -3 | 69 | 72 | - | 141 |
| CUT | Ben Crane | -3 | 72 | 69 | - | 141 |
| CUT | Greyson Sigg | -3 | 73 | 68 | - | 141 |
| CUT | Martin Trainer | -2 | 72 | 70 | - | 142 |
| CUT | Scott Brown | -2 | 73 | 69 | - | 142 |
| CUT | S.Y. Noh | -2 | 70 | 72 | - | 142 |
| CUT | D.J. Trahan | -2 | 72 | 70 | - | 142 |
| CUT | Ryan Moore | -2 | 69 | 73 | - | 142 |
| CUT | Matti Schmid | -2 | 73 | 69 | - | 142 |
| CUT | Ryan Gerard | -2 | 72 | 70 | - | 142 |
| CUT | Kevin Tway | -2 | 70 | 72 | - | 142 |
| CUT | Justin Lower | -2 | 73 | 69 | - | 142 |
| CUT | Nate Lashley | -2 | 70 | 72 | - | 142 |
| CUT | Scott Piercy | -2 | 72 | 70 | - | 142 |
| CUT | Harry Hall | -1 | 71 | 72 | - | 143 |
| CUT | Hayden Buckley | -1 | 71 | 72 | - | 143 |
| CUT | Emiliano Grillo | -1 | 72 | 71 | - | 143 |
| CUT | Ryan Brehm | -1 | 71 | 72 | - | 143 |
| CUT | Robby Shelton | -1 | 72 | 71 | - | 143 |
| CUT | Greg Chalmers | -1 | 69 | 74 | - | 143 |
| CUT | Will Gordon | -1 | 72 | 71 | - | 143 |
| CUT | Max McGreevy | -1 | 71 | 72 | - | 143 |
| CUT | Davis Riley | Par | 71 | 73 | - | 144 |
| CUT | Satoshi Kodaira | Par | 71 | 73 | - | 144 |
| CUT | Sam Stevens | Par | 71 | 73 | - | 144 |
| CUT | Zack Fischer | Par | 74 | 70 | - | 144 |
| CUT | Paul Haley II | Par | 71 | 73 | - | 144 |
| CUT | Kevin Streelman | Par | 74 | 70 | - | 144 |
| CUT | Ryan Armour | +1 | 69 | 76 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Sung Kang | +1 | 73 | 72 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Kevin Yu | +1 | 69 | 76 | - | 145 |
| CUT | K.H. Lee | +1 | 75 | 70 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Brandon Matthews | +2 | 71 | 75 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Chez Reavie | +2 | 74 | 72 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Andrew Novak | +2 | 73 | 73 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Fred Biondi | +2 | 74 | 72 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Jonathan Byrd | +3 | 74 | 73 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Brian Stuard | +3 | 70 | 77 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Brent Grant | +3 | 79 | 68 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Matthias Schwab | +4 | 72 | 76 | - | 148 |
| CUT | Nick Watney | +4 | 73 | 75 | - | 148 |
| CUT | Keith Mitchell | +5 | 73 | 76 | - | 149 |
| CUT | Greg Sonnier | +9 | 80 | 73 | - | 153 |