Matt Kuchar led by six strokes through fourteen holes but a quadruple bogey at the par-4 15th followed by a bogey at the par-3 16th left him with a 67 and a share of the lead at 19-under at the World Wide Technology Championship.
“I’m playing some good golf, I’m very pleased with the state of my game. I had it rolling nicely, it was a lot of fun out there.
“One bad swing is probably all I made. That drive on 15, tried to ride the wind. I’m not typically one to try to hit draws and I hit a hook in the junk, and then from there 15 can kind of creep up and kind of get you.
“I thought I hit a decent approach and wind took it left of the green. I think everybody saw that. But that’s one you have circled, like that’s a bad spot. There wasn’t much I could do with my first two shots. It was a place where I was just in a bad situation, bad lies, bad everything. Ended up walking off with an 8.
“Up and down for bogey on the next. I think the 16th hole is a really cool hole, that par-3. I ended up making a bogey, but I really like the hole. Shape of the green, I really like it. It played tough today into the wind. I was awfully pleased, it looked like I was going to make a mess of that hole as well and awfully pleased I made an eight- or 10-footer there. That to me was kind of one I’ll be awfully pleased about and proud about when I think about this round. I feel like that kind of allowed me to keep some positivity going on this day.”
It is the American’s eleventh career 54-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA Tour, he went on to win at four of them. With a win on Sunday he would be the oldest Tour winner since Phil Mickelson at the 2021 PGA Championship (50 years, 11 months, 7 days).
36-hole leader Camilo Villegas of Colombia tied his career-low 54-hole score at 197 for his third career 54-hole lead/co-lead on Tour.
“Today was an interesting day, a little different than the first two. Putter wasn’t as hot, but I think overall it was positive. I mean, I’m in the final group tomorrow, that’s good. Emotionally I was pretty at peace on the golf course and made great birdies on No. 15 and 16, probably two of the holes that were playing the toughest. Matt was kind of running away, but golf is weird and he came back to us. We’ll be back tomorrow, play good, keep staying aggressive. There’s a lot of low scores on this golf course, see what
happens.”
Making his 11th start of the season and just his second since the RBC Canadian Open in June, Villegas could become the first player to win while competing on a sponsor exemption since Martin Laird at the 2020 Shriners Children’s Open. His best finish of the season was T48 at the Puerto Rico Open.
Kuchar (45) and Villegas (41) are the first players age 40 or older to share the 54-hole lead in the same Tour event since Ben Crane (41) and Stewart Cink (44) at the 2017 FedEx St. Jude Classic.
South African Erik van Rooyen carded a 66 to take solo third place at 18-under.
Americans Will Gordon (67) and Justin Suh (68) are tied in fourth place at 17-under alongside Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes who closed with a bogey-free 63.
