Zac Blair and Patrick Fishburn lead by one shot at 23-under after making an eagle at the par-5 2nd, 10 birdies and parring the final three holes for a bogey-free 60 in Four-Ball, one shy of the 18-hole Zurich Classic of New Orleans tournament record set by Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele in 2022/R1. Blair and Fishburn have been playing golf together since their junior high school days in and were also teammates at Brigham Young University.
“It’s pretty easy to hit shots when Zac is always in the fairway, always on the green,” said Fishburn. “He’s always available. That’s kind of been our key word for the week. It’s pretty easy for me to swing free knowing that Zac is always going to be there. He had some awesome birdies when we needed them, and we ham-and-egged it really good today.
“Been playing golf since we were little kids in Ogden, Utah. I had to beg him to be my partner at Palm Springs. I think it took like four or five weeks for me to get the answer. But glad I got it done.
“No, no, that’s not true,” said Fishburn. “I was the kid on the playground that needed a partner, needed a friend, and Zac was kind enough to say, why don’t you come along with me, Pat. No, we go back a long ways, and we spent a lot of time together, and it’s cool to be playing well on the PGA TOUR on this stage. This is pretty special.”
Luke List and Henrik Norlander made two eagles at the par-5s 2nd and 11th as well as six birdies for a bogey-free 62 to move into second place at 22-under.
Overnight co-leaders Ryan Brehm & Mark Hubbard and Rory McIlroy & Shane Lowry slipped down into a share of third place at 21-under after both teams closed with 64.
McIlroy and Lowry stayed bogey-free and produced eight birdies while Brehm and Hubbard shot an eagle at the par-5 7th, seven birdies and bogeyed the par-3 14th.
The teams will play Foursomes (alternate shot) in the final round. Each player on the winning team will receive 400 FedExCup points, $1,286,050, a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour (through 2026) and entry into the three remaining Signature Events.
