Keith Mitchell finished birdie-birdie-eagle to take a two-shot lead at 10-under at the Valspar Championship. He is the first player in the Championship’s history to play the Snake Pit in 4-under, seven players had previously managed it in 3-under. He matched the Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead Course) back-nine scoring record at 6-under 29.
“The last three holes really here are — it’s called the Snake Pit for a reason. The wind today was more favorable on 16, so it was down on 16. Hit 5-wood and hit a nice 9-iron in there, actually a little past the flag. It was the first really good putt I’ve made all day of really substantial length. I finally read one right and hit it and knew when it was about three feet out it was in the hole. So I kind of gave myself a little fist pump there to try to get some energy going, some momentum going.”
“We were really in between clubs on 17,” he went on. “Between 6 and 7. I ended up hitting 6 to take as much wind out of the shot as possible. So had to take almost 20 yards off that club to get it to where it ended up. That was one of the best shots I’ve hit all day. Just kind of a tap-in putt.
“Then 18, hit a good drive and kind of the same thing on that 7-iron. I had 59 hole and I hit my 7-iron close to 190, so it was 25 plus yards off that club.
“When I looked up something kind of flew in my eye, so I kind of looked away and never saw it come down and land, but I knew, I was — when I hit it, I was pleased with the contact. It’s an elevated green, I wasn’t going to be able to see it go in the hole anyway, but I didn’t even see it come down next to the flag.”
The American is looking for his second title in his 170th start, he previously won at the 2019 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches and has had two top-10s in eight starts this season (T9/The American Express, T9/Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches).
Irelands’s Seamus Power shot a 68 to move into a share of second place at 8-under alongside Canadian Mackenzie Hughes who shot a 69 and American Peter Malnati who closed with a 68.
