January 28-31
Torrey Pines, San Diego, California
$7,500,000
Round 1, Round 2, Round 4

Carlos Ortiz won his first PGA title in November at the Viving Houston Open, and after missing the cut in his last two starts he's in contention for another at the Farmers Insurance Open where he will start on Sunday tied for the lead with Patrick Reed at 10-under 206.

"Yesterday was definitely tougher condition-wise, (but) today was a beautiful day," said Ortiz. "I don't think it gets any better than this anywhere. I took advantage of that, I hit the ball great and made a couple putts, and when you do that it normally is a good outcome."

Having started the third round in 21st place, Ortiz shot the low score of the day by two shots, a 66, on the South Course.

Ortiz is having his best season on Tour with three top-15s in his last four starts. He is 10th in the FedEx Cup and could take the lead with a win on Sunday.

“I think I'm getting to know myself and I'm having a different perspective on the way I'm playing,” said Ortiz. “I'm taking it easier, I'm trying to see the good things in everything, not only on the golf course. I just want to come out here, give my best. If my best is 78 or 66, that's okay, but as long as I give my best, that's all I'm trying to do here right now. ”

Reed, who last won at the WGC-Mexico Championship last February, played 31 on his opening nine but came back in 39 for a 70 on Saturday.

He caused controversy and raised cheating accusations after an embedded-ball drop on the 10th. His approach shot on the par-4 went into deep rough, he asked a volunteer if the shot bounced after striking the ground and the negative answer led him to believe his ball was embedded.

Under the Rules of Golf, players can check if their ball is embedded and receive free relief if it is. The first three rounds of the Farmers Insurance Open have been played under lift, clean and place because of wet conditions, including more than an inch of rain that fell Friday.

Reed let his playing partners know he would check his ball, determined it was embedded and moved it before officials arrived. He then asked senior tournament official Brad Fabel to double check the ground for an indentation. Fabel said he did, determined that Reed's ball had been embedded and guided Reed through the drop for relief.

Video evidence showed the ball did bounce but Reed said he had to use his best judgment.

“When you have three players, three caddies and the volunteer (who's) really close to the golf ball not seeing the ball bounce, then you have to go by what everyone sees and what everyone saw,” said Reed after the round. “When no one has seen that, then the rules official basically says whether it's free relief or not, and the rules official agreed that the ball had broken the plane and it was relief.”

“When the ball bounces it's almost impossible for it to break the plane and so therefore, when that happens, anytime you see the ball bounce you just play it as it lies. If you had 100 people around there, bunch of fans out there and one fan said they saw it bounce, I never would have had to put a tee down and even check to see if it was embedded.”

“That's why you always call a rules official, because at the end of the day they're going to have the best judgment over everybody. If they believe that it's embedded as well, that's then when you go by what they say.”

“We're fine with the outcome of the situation (on No. 10),” said PGA TOUR rules official Ken Tackett in a post-round interview.