Patrick Rodgers held on to his lead at the Valero Texas Open after closing with a 71 on Saturday to reach 12-under.
“I felt like I drove it really well to put myself in good positions to score. I didn’t quite take advantage the way that I had in the previous rounds, a little sloppy with the wedge play, a little sloppy on the greens, but I knew there was a long way to go heading into today and part of it was being patient and hanging in there and giving myself a nice opportunity tomorrow.
“It’s going to require good golf. There’s a lot of guys chasing and great players out here. Obviously there’s no better place to be than to have an advantage, but it’s going to take a great round in order to get it done.”
The American has recorded three runner-up finishes but has yet to win in 234 starts on Tour and four attempts with the 54-hole lead/co-lead.
“I think we all know what’s at stake with a win out here. I haven’t gotten the job done in my career, but it’s quite a thrill. This is why I play, why I compete and I can’t wait to get out there tomorrow.”
His best finish so far this season was T3 at the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
First-round leader Corey Conners of Canada, who won the event in 2019, lies in second place at 11-under after carding a 69, in spite of a double bogey at the par-4 6th.
https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1642264726863314945?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1642264726863314945%7Ctwgr%5E4bb27a79b8881d639adbb04801513e36bdfa2c8b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2FPGATOUR2Fstatus2F1642264726863314945widget%3DTweet
Last year’s runner-up, American Matt Kuchar, also posted a 69 in spite of a double bogey at the par-5 18th.
Fellow Americans Sam Stevens (68) and Chris Kirk (69) are tied in fourth place at 8-under.
Stevens finished T3 at last week’s Corales Puntacana Championship and is aiming for a first win in his 17th start.
Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark (T18/5-under) and Ryan Gerard of the USA (T43/2-under) are in good shape to earn PGA Tour Special Temporary Membership this week. Gerard needs a solo-68th or better, while Hojgaard needs to finish in a two-way T46 or better.
Sweden’s Henrik Norlander’s (T63/3-over) 93’ 4” putt for birdie at the 13th is the second-longest made putt on Tour this season; Harris English made a 100’ 3” putt on the sixth hole in round two of the WM Phoenix Open.
https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1642227593448501248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1642227593448501248%7Ctwgr%5Efa176bc8af18f769e146d00e0b94c50ad8cf1c8d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.twitter.com%2F%3Fquery%3Dhttps3A2F2Ftwitter.com2FPGATOUR2Fstatus2F1642227593448501248widget%3DTweet
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 | R2 | R3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Patrick Rodgers | -12 | 66 | 67 | 71 | 204 |
| 2 | Corey Conners | -11 | 64 | 72 | 69 | 205 |
| 3 | Matt Kuchar | -9 | 68 | 70 | 69 | 207 |
| T4 | Sam Stevens | -8 | 72 | 68 | 68 | 208 |
| T4 | Chris Kirk | -8 | 67 | 72 | 69 | 208 |
| T6 | Byeong Hun An | -7 | 70 | 71 | 68 | 209 |
| T6 | Sam Ryder | -7 | 71 | 70 | 68 | 209 |
| T6 | Padraig Harrington | -7 | 68 | 73 | 68 | 209 |
| T6 | Lee Hodges | -7 | 74 | 66 | 69 | 209 |
| T6 | Augusto Núñez | -7 | 70 | 70 | 69 | 209 |
| T6 | Harry Higgs | -7 | 69 | 68 | 72 | 209 |
| T12 | Hideki Matsuyama | -6 | 70 | 72 | 68 | 210 |
| T12 | Dylan Wu | -6 | 70 | 71 | 69 | 210 |
| T12 | Andrew Putnam | -6 | 71 | 69 | 70 | 210 |
| T12 | S.H. Kim | -6 | 72 | 68 | 70 | 210 |
| T12 | Nick Taylor | -6 | 69 | 71 | 70 | 210 |
| T12 | Nico Echavarria | -6 | 73 | 66 | 71 | 210 |
| T18 | Taylor Montgomery | -5 | 68 | 74 | 69 | 211 |
| T18 | Andrew Novak | -5 | 69 | 72 | 70 | 211 |
| T18 | Kevin Chappell | -5 | 71 | 71 | 69 | 211 |
| T18 | Alex Noren | -5 | 70 | 71 | 70 | 211 |
| T18 | Nicolai Hojgaard | -5 | 72 | 70 | 69 | 211 |
| T18 | Michael Thompson | -5 | 69 | 68 | 74 | 211 |
| T24 | Matt Wallace | -4 | 69 | 72 | 71 | 212 |
| T24 | MJ Daffue | -4 | 68 | 72 | 72 | 212 |
| T24 | Hayden Buckley | -4 | 67 | 73 | 72 | 212 |
| T24 | Lanto Griffin | -4 | 73 | 70 | 69 | 212 |
| T24 | Michael Kim | -4 | 68 | 71 | 73 | 212 |
| T24 | Brendon Todd | -4 | 70 | 67 | 75 | 212 |
| T30 | Chez Reavie | -3 | 69 | 72 | 72 | 213 |
| T30 | Charley Hoffman | -3 | 73 | 69 | 71 | 213 |
| T30 | Matti Schmid | -3 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 213 |
| T30 | Trevor Werbylo | -3 | 72 | 70 | 71 | 213 |
| T30 | Nick Hardy | -3 | 72 | 70 | 71 | 213 |
| T30 | Aaron Rai | -3 | 71 | 71 | 71 | 213 |
| T30 | Jimmy Walker | -3 | 70 | 70 | 73 | 213 |
| T30 | J.J. Spaun | -3 | 70 | 73 | 70 | 213 |
| T30 | Ben Martin | -3 | 70 | 70 | 73 | 213 |
| T30 | Sepp Straka | -3 | 73 | 70 | 70 | 213 |
| T30 | Eric Cole | -3 | 71 | 67 | 75 | 213 |
| T30 | Pierceson Coody | -3 | 74 | 69 | 70 | 213 |
| T30 | Roberto Díaz | -3 | 68 | 69 | 76 | 213 |
| T43 | Robby Shelton | -2 | 73 | 69 | 72 | 214 |
| T43 | Emiliano Grillo | -2 | 70 | 72 | 72 | 214 |
| T43 | Christiaan Bezuidenhout | -2 | 69 | 72 | 73 | 214 |
| T43 | Rickie Fowler | -2 | 71 | 72 | 71 | 214 |
| T43 | Beau Hossler | -2 | 71 | 69 | 74 | 214 |
| T43 | Ryan Gerard | -2 | 72 | 72 | 70 | 214 |
| T49 | Luke Donald | -1 | 70 | 72 | 73 | 215 |
| T49 | Luke List | -1 | 71 | 69 | 75 | 215 |
| T49 | Si Woo Kim | -1 | 69 | 74 | 72 | 215 |
| T49 | Harry Hall | -1 | 73 | 70 | 72 | 215 |
| T49 | Kevin Streelman | -1 | 71 | 72 | 72 | 215 |
| 54 | Brandon Wu | Par | 71 | 72 | 73 | 216 |
| T55 | Tano Goya | +1 | 72 | 70 | 75 | 217 |
| T55 | Patton Kizzire | +1 | 73 | 70 | 74 | 217 |
| T55 | Peter Malnati | +1 | 67 | 72 | 78 | 217 |
| T55 | Brice Garnett | +1 | 71 | 72 | 74 | 217 |
| T55 | Satoshi Kodaira | +1 | 72 | 72 | 73 | 217 |
| T55 | Lucas Glover | +1 | 75 | 69 | 73 | 217 |
| T61 | Justin Lower | +2 | 69 | 73 | 76 | 218 |
| T61 | Kyle Stanley | +2 | 71 | 72 | 75 | 218 |
| T63 | Garrick Higgo | +3 | 69 | 73 | 77 | 219 |
| T63 | Jason Dufner | +3 | 69 | 74 | 76 | 219 |
| T63 | Chesson Hadley | +3 | 70 | 74 | 75 | 219 |
| T63 | Akshay Bhatia | +3 | 73 | 71 | 75 | 219 |
| T63 | Cole Hammer | +3 | 72 | 72 | 75 | 219 |
| T63 | Henrik Norlander | +3 | 71 | 73 | 75 | 219 |
| 69 | Tyler Duncan | +4 | 73 | 70 | 77 | 220 |
| 70 | Thomas Detry | +5 | 71 | 67 | 83 | 221 |
| 71 | Chandler Phillips | +6 | 71 | 72 | 79 | 222 |
| CUT | Russell Knox | +1 | 69 | 76 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Ben Taylor | +1 | 72 | 73 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Ben Griffin | +1 | 71 | 74 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Callum Tarren | +1 | 73 | 72 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Troy Merritt | +1 | 69 | 76 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Chad Ramey | +1 | 70 | 75 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Tyrrell Hatton | +1 | 70 | 75 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Greyson Sigg | +1 | 73 | 72 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Zecheng Dou | +1 | 72 | 73 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Ryan Moore | +1 | 72 | 73 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Nick Watney | +1 | 73 | 72 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Joseph Bramlett | +1 | 73 | 72 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Hank Lebioda | +1 | 72 | 73 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Brian Stuard | +1 | 72 | 73 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Adam Schenk | +1 | 73 | 72 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Trevor Cone | +1 | 71 | 74 | - | 145 |
| CUT | Taylor Pendrith | +2 | 73 | 73 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Cameron Champ | +2 | 73 | 73 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Cam Davis | +2 | 80 | 66 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Jim Herman | +2 | 74 | 72 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Doug Ghim | +2 | 73 | 73 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Max McGreevy | +2 | 73 | 73 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Vincent Norrman | +2 | 74 | 72 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Stewart Cink | +2 | 72 | 74 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Andrew Landry | +2 | 72 | 74 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Doc Redman | +2 | 75 | 71 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Carl Yuan | +2 | 73 | 73 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Brent Grant | +2 | 75 | 71 | - | 146 |
| CUT | Ryan Armour | +3 | 73 | 74 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Austin Smotherman | +3 | 73 | 74 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Paul Haley II | +3 | 76 | 71 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Kevin Roy | +3 | 77 | 70 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Peter Lansburgh | +3 | 75 | 72 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Jesse Mueller | +3 | 75 | 72 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Harrison Endycott | +3 | 74 | 73 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Alex Smalley | +3 | 74 | 73 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Ryan Palmer | +3 | 74 | 73 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Scott Piercy | +3 | 72 | 75 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Peter Kuest | +3 | 71 | 76 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Austin Eckroat | +3 | 75 | 72 | - | 147 |
| CUT | Will Gordon | +4 | 70 | 78 | - | 148 |
| CUT | Matthew NeSmith | +4 | 73 | 75 | - | 148 |
| CUT | Kyle Westmoreland | +4 | 72 | 76 | - | 148 |
| CUT | Scott Harrington | +4 | 77 | 71 | - | 148 |
| CUT | Nate Lashley | +4 | 76 | 72 | - | 148 |
| CUT | Richy Werenski | +5 | 75 | 74 | - | 149 |
| CUT | Kazuki Higa | +5 | 75 | 74 | - | 149 |
| CUT | Carson Young | +5 | 74 | 75 | - | 149 |
| CUT | Ricky Barnes | +5 | 76 | 73 | - | 149 |
| CUT | Mark Hubbard | +5 | 76 | 73 | - | 149 |
| CUT | J.B. Holmes | +5 | 75 | 74 | - | 149 |
| CUT | Matthias Schwab | +5 | 77 | 72 | - | 149 |
| CUT | Ryan Fox | +6 | 75 | 75 | - | 150 |
| CUT | David Lingmerth | +6 | 74 | 76 | - | 150 |
| CUT | Martin Laird | +6 | 73 | 77 | - | 150 |
| CUT | Trey Mullinax | +6 | 78 | 72 | - | 150 |
| CUT | Erik van Rooyen | +6 | 75 | 75 | - | 150 |
| CUT | Austin Cook | +6 | 76 | 74 | - | 150 |
| CUT | Zac Blair | +6 | 76 | 74 | - | 150 |
| CUT | Kevin Tway | +6 | 73 | 77 | - | 150 |
| CUT | Kelly Kraft | +6 | 75 | 75 | - | 150 |
| CUT | Adam Long | +7 | 77 | 74 | - | 151 |
| CUT | JJ Wood | +8 | 74 | 78 | - | 152 |
| CUT | Francesco Molinari | +8 | 73 | 79 | - | 152 |
| CUT | Austen Truslow | +8 | 74 | 78 | - | 152 |
| CUT | James Hahn | +10 | 80 | 74 | - | 154 |
| CUT | Kramer Hickok | +10 | 77 | 77 | - | 154 |
| CUT | David Carey | +10 | 78 | 76 | - | 154 |
| CUT | Dylan Frittelli | +12 | 79 | 77 | - | 156 |
| W/D | Davis Riley | - | 78 | - | - | 78 |
| W/D | Michael Gligic | - | 78 | - | - | 78 |
| W/D | Davis Love III | - | 82 | - | - | 82 |
| W/D | Brandon Matthews | - | - | - | - | - |
Simon Bale
The editorial team at Golf Today strives to provide readers with captivating content that celebrates the rich heritage and exciting developments in the world of golf. Their collective expertise and dedication ensure that Golf Today remains a premier destination for golf enthusiasts seeking the latest news, insightful analysis, and engaging stories from the world of golf.