Andrew Novak Follows 61 With 62 to Lead by Six

• Andrew Novak shot a bogey-free 62 in the third round of the VidantaWorld Mexico Open.
• Novak leads by six shots at 23-under, the event’s lowest 54-hole total.
• Matthieu Pavon is second, one ahead of Doug Ghim.

Andrew Novak followed Friday’s record-equalling 61 with a bogey-free 9-under 62 at Vidanta Vallarta on Saturday. He takes a six-shot lead into the final round of the VidantaWorld Mexico Open.

Playing in the last group, Novak was already comfortably clear at the turn and then played the first five holes of the back nine in 5-under. Three birdies and an eagle pushed his lead to as many as seven. The eagle came at the par-5 12th, where his 279-yard shot settled 20 feet away. Admiring it, he lost his grip on a club twirl, which was about his only mistake of the day. At the 14th, with the ball well below his feet in the rough, he hammered his approach to 6 feet and made the birdie.

He holed a 6-foot par putt at the 16th, then came up short at the 17th and saved par from 10 feet.

“Very much the same, maybe a little sloppy at the end,” Novak said, comparing Saturday’s round with Friday’s. “But the putter saved it.”

Records and a strong precedent

Six shots is the largest 54-hole lead in the tournament’s history. The previous mark was four, held by Jake Knapp in 2024, who went on to win by two. Novak’s 190 beats Aldrich Potgieter’s 54-hole record of 193 from last year and is his own lowest 54-hole total on Tour by six shots.

The margin also matches the largest 54-hole lead on Tour this season. All four players who held it went on to win: Justin Rose at the Farmers Insurance Open, Jacob Bridgeman at The Genesis Invitational, Cameron Young at the Cadillac Championship and Wyndham Clark at the US Open.

Novak has made only three bogeys in 54 holes, and the putter is a large part of that. He leads the field in strokes gained putting at 12.328 and is 37-for-37 from inside 10 feet. He arrived in Mexico ranked 158th on Tour in that category.

“You want to back up a really low round with something low, but you don’t usually expect that,” he said. “You expect usually there’s going to be some give, and you’ve just got to be patient with it the next day. I still kind of came out firing today, was throwing some darts, making putts and trying to stay out of my own way.”

This is his 140th Tour start. His only win came alongside Ben Griffin at the 2025 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. His only previous 54-hole lead came at the 2024 Butterfield Bermuda Championship, where he finished second. A win would lift him from 89th to a projected 53rd in the FedExCup Fall standings. Nos. 51 to 60 earn places in next year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Genesis Invitational.

The chasers

Matthieu Pavon birdied his last two holes for a 65 and is second at 17-under on his tournament debut. The two-year exemption from his 2024 victory runs out this year, and he arrived at No. 140 in the FedExCup. Finishing second would lift him to a projected 94th, just inside the top 100. He has not had a top-10 in 23 starts this season.

Doug Ghim shot 64 and is third at 16-under. He has finished inside the top 20 in each of his last five starts, including second at the Bank of Utah Championship.

“It makes it easier for me to be in my own bubble because I know that something significant would probably need to happen for me to have a chance tomorrow,” Ghim said. “I’ll do my best to put any pressure on him and see what happens.”

Max Greyserman and Griffin share fourth place at 15-under. Greyserman has five runner-up finishes since joining the Tour in 2024, the most by any player without a win in that time. Griffin has shot 67 or better in eight of his nine rounds at Vidanta Vallarta.

Kihei Akina opened with two bogeys but steadied for a 68 and is tied seventh, nine behind. Another top-10 finish would give him his 13th point in the PGA Tour University Accelerated programme. A college player earns Tour membership on reaching 20 points by the end of their third year of NCAA eligibility.

Defending champion Brian Campbell shot 65 and is tied ninth at 13-under. Guadalajara’s Alvaro Ortiz, the only Mexican to make the cut, shot 71 and is tied 26th at 9-under.

Related: Palmares Completes Course Upgrade Across All Three Nines

Wider fairways, short grass in place of sand around many greens, rebuilt bunkers and a bigger practice area.

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