The CJ Cup @ Summit R3

CJ Cup 2021 R3
October 14-17
The Summit Club, Las Vegas, Nevada
$9,750,000
Round 1, Round 2, Round 4

Estimated reading time: 8 minutes

Rickie Fowler shot his best round in three years producing a bogey-free 63 to reach 21-under and take a two-shot lead in the CJ Cup @ Summit in Las Vegas.

CJ Cup 2021 R3

“I’ve done everything I really wanted to do the first three days. It’s nice to be executing the way we are. I say “we,” it’s a two-man show out there, Joe and myself, and ultimately I’m the one pulling the trigger.”

The American’s last victory on the PGA Tour dates back to the Waste Management Phoenix Open in 2019. He missed out on the FedEx Cup playoffs this summer for the first time in his career and is playing this week on a sponsor exemption. He is currently 128th in the Official World Ranking.

CJ Cup 2021 R3

“I haven’t been in this position a whole lot in the last couple years, so to feel the emotions again on the back nine being around and then in the lead, you know, kind of dealing with that again and kind of making sure that I was going through the right process and committing to what I was ultimately trying to do, it was great to see that I was still executing and hitting the shots that I wanted to.

“You drive the ball well around here, it really doesn’t matter how tucked the pins are, the greens are still fairly receptive. And I know the weather’s supposed to be good, so if I can go execute off the tee, everything can kind of fall into place tomorrow.”

CJ Cup 2021 R3

Victory is far from assured however and nine players are within five shots of the lead. The course having yielded low scores throughout the tournament, the average score for the week has been around 68.5 with only one player currently above par in a field of 78.

Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland started the day in in a tie for 19th at 9-under and got off to a good start with five consecutive birdies from the third hole, finishing with another at the 9th to make the turn in 30. He made two more on the back nine and closed his round with an eagle at the par-5 18th for a bogey-free 62 to move into second place at 19-under.

“I think on a course like this you’re going to have stretches where you’re going to play good golf and hit good shots and maybe just not hole the putts. I played an eight-hole stretch yesterday in even par, I made eight pars in row. It was nice to finish with a birdie last night.”

CJ Cup 2021 R3

“Then today I played a stretch of golf, played nine holes in 6-under and all of a sudden you feel a little better about yourself.

“The big thing is I’ve played the last two days keeping it in the short stuff and I haven’t made any bogeys. That’s huge. I said to Harry yesterday, I can’t remember the last time I played a round of golf without a bogey and now I’ve played two rounds in a row, so that’s nice to see.”

Abraham Ancer (63) of Mexico, American Robert Streb (65) and Australian Adam Scott (67) are tied for third at 18-under.

“This was a lot of fun,” said Ancer. “Definitely had a great group today. Me and Rory and Sung Kang were just feeding off each other, we both played really good golf. Every time so far that I played with Rory I’ve rolled the putter so good, so today was the same case. We just had a great time out there just feeding off each other.”

CJ Cup 2021 R3

Overnight leader Keith Mitchell, who started the day with a five-shot lead following rounds of 62-64 closed with a 73 after struggling on the front nine, making three birdies, a bogey and finding the desert for back-to-back double bogeys at the par-4s 8th and 9th. He shares sixth place with England’s Tyrrell Hatton (67).

“I hit two bad swings and that’s really all it was,” said Mitchell. “When you get in the desert, I mean, it is a nightmare. So it was really – the drive on 8 I didn’t feel like was that bad, I just had a bad target, pulled it a little bit. And then 9 was – I really just — it’s such a tough tee shot for me and I wasn’t sure what club to hit and I just never really figured it out. I hit had a 3-wood and it was a bad swing.”

CJ Cup 2021 R3

“I really felt like I played nice on the back. I didn’t make a couple putts and I missed the two drives on the par 5s to really try to make eagles, and I hit both of them pretty good and they’re only a foot in the bunker. It was a yard or two just from being perfect. That’s the difference in a great round and an average round and a terrible round. The last couple days, those one yards have been the other way and then today they were all the opposite.

“Still pleased just to be in the position I am after the round today. I’m glad the last two days were as good as they were so I can have a couple hiccups and still have a chance to win.”

CJ Cup 2021 R3

Pos.	Player	To Par	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Rickie Fowler	-21	66	66	63	195
2	Rory McIlroy	-19	68	67	62	197
T3	Abraham Ancer	-18	70	65	63	198
T3	Robert Streb	-18	61	72	65	198
T3	Adam Scott	-18	68	63	67	198
T6	Tyrrell Hatton	-17	67	65	67	199
T6	Keith Mitchell	-17	62	64	73	199
T8	Cameron Smith	-16	66	67	67	200
T8	Ian Poulter	-16	66	67	67	200
T10	Sam Burns	-15	67	68	66	201
T10	Aaron Wise	-15	66	67	68	201
T10	Erik van Rooyen	-15	67	66	68	201
T10	Harry Higgs	-15	64	67	70	201
T14	Collin Morikawa	-14	67	70	65	202
T14	Russell Henley	-14	68	69	65	202
T14	Sung Kang	-14	71	64	67	202
T17	Harold Varner III	-13	67	70	66	203
T17	Gary Woodland	-13	68	69	66	203
T17	Carlos Ortiz	-13	71	65	67	203
T17	Joaquin Niemann	-13	67	69	67	203
T17	Chris Kirk	-13	68	67	68	203
T17	Jhonattan Vegas	-13	66	69	68	203
T17	Maverick McNealy	-13	69	65	69	203
T17	Hudson Swafford	-13	65	69	69	203
T17	Paul Casey	-13	68	65	70	203
T17	Viktor Hovland	-13	65	68	70	203
T17	Mackenzie Hughes	-13	71	62	70	203
T17	Seonghyeon Kim	-13	68	63	72	203
T17	Jordan Spieth	-13	66	65	72	203
T30	Tommy Fleetwood	-12	68	72	64	204
T30	Lucas Glover	-12	69	70	65	204
T30	Webb Simpson	-12	69	69	66	204
T30	Sungjae Im	-12	68	69	67	204
T30	Stewart Cink	-12	69	68	67	204
T30	Sergio Garcia	-12	65	70	69	204
T36	K.H. Lee	-11	67	72	66	205
T36	Matt Jones	-11	70	69	66	205
T36	Brooks Koepka	-11	67	70	68	205
T36	Keegan Bradley	-11	70	66	69	205
T36	Minkyu Kim	-11	69	66	70	205
T36	Talor Gooch	-11	67	68	70	205
T42	Louis Oosthuizen	-10	70	71	65	206
T42	Kevin Kisner	-10	70	68	68	206
T42	Justin Thomas	-10	69	67	70	206
T42	Kevin Na	-10	68	66	72	206
T46	Dustin Johnson	-9	74	66	67	207
T46	Tom Hoge	-9	71	68	68	207
T46	Xander Schauffele	-9	69	69	69	207
T46	Max Homa	-9	67	70	70	207
T46	Sebastián Muñoz	-9	69	67	71	207
T51	Kevin Streelman	-8	75	70	63	208
T51	Jason Kokrak	-8	77	66	65	208
T51	Alex Noren	-8	72	69	67	208
T51	Byeong Hun An	-8	70	70	68	208
T51	Scottie Scheffler	-8	66	71	71	208
T56	Joohyung Kim	-7	68	73	68	209
T56	Harris English	-7	73	68	68	209
T56	Emiliano Grillo	-7	72	68	69	209
T56	Rasmus Hojgaard	-7	69	71	69	209
T56	Justin Rose	-7	75	65	69	209
T56	Marc Leishman	-7	70	69	70	209
T56	Tony Finau	-7	68	71	70	209
T56	Brian Harman	-7	67	69	73	209
T64	Charley Hoffman	-6	72	70	68	210
T64	Sanghun Shin	-6	71	70	69	210
T64	Cameron Tringale	-6	71	70	69	210
T64	Patrick Reed	-6	71	66	73	210
T64	Hideki Matsuyama	-6	66	70	74	210
T69	Jaekyeong Lee	-5	69	71	71	211
T69	Si Woo Kim	-5	71	69	71	211
T69	Cam Davis	-5	68	69	74	211
T72	Patton Kizzire	-4	71	71	70	212
T72	Shane Lowry	-4	73	70	69	212
T74	Yoseop Seo	-2	74	70	70	214
T74	Hanbyeol Kim	-2	74	69	71	214
T76	Branden Grace	-1	72	72	71	215
T76	Jason Day	-1	73	70	72	215
78	Charl Schwartzel	+4	72	72	76	220