PGA Tour rookie Davis Riley shot a blazing 62 on Saturday to vault to the top of the leaderboard Saturday owning the 54-hole scoring record at the Valspar Championship at Palm Harbour, Florida.
Davis, 25, sits at 18-under-par 195, holding a two-shot lead over Matthew NeSmith, who shot 69 one day after matching the Valspar single-round mark with a 61 Friday. Davis carded nine birdies en route to a bogey-free round at the Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course.
Justin Thomas, on the strength of a third consecutive 66, and defending champion Sam Burns (67) sit three shots back at 15 under.
Canadian Adam Hadwin (70) is solo fifth at 13 under, five shots back.
Shane Lowry is ten shots off the lead heading into the final day after carding a round of 68 for the second consecutive day. The Offaly man carded three birdies and a bogey on his opening nine holes, picking up one further stroke on his second nine.
Riley had never held a tournament lead after any round until Saturday, and his round was three stokes better than his previous career best of 65 at the Sony Open in January.
“I struggled a little bit with my approach play. I wasn’t as clean as I would like to the first two days, but thankfully the putter was there,” Riley said afterward. “And that’s what I’ve been telling myself is just give myself (a) look. I feel really comfortable with the putter on these greens and if you just get me on the greens, I have a chance.”
NeSmith had established a new tournament record through 36 holes after his blistering 61 in the second round Friday. He was still in command and atop the leaderboard by four shots midway through Saturday, when his round was marred by the first of four bogeys on the back nine at the par four 10th hole.
“Today was a completely new day and we were trying to put one foot in front of the other one and that was the entire goal of today,” NeSmith said. “I think we accomplished that pretty well and I’m excited to try and do the same thing tomorrow.”
Palm Harbor Collated Collated third round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Valspar Championship Innisbrook Resort, Palm Harbor, Florida, United States of America
(USA unless stated, Par 71):
195 Davis Riley 65 68 62
197 Matthew NeSmith 67 61 69
198 Sam Burns 64 67 67, Justin Thomas 66 66 66
200 Adam Hadwin (Can) 64 66 70
202 Troy Merritt 68 67 67, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 67 68 67, Xander Schauffele 67 67 68, Robert Streb 68 69 65, Brian Harman 67 67 68
203 Tyler Duncan 69 69 65, Alexander Noren (Swe) 68 70 65, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 67 68 68
204 Kevin Streelman 67 69 68, Stewart Cink 67 68 69
205 Scott Stallings 65 66 74, Matt Kuchar 67 72 66, Shane Lowry (Irl) 69 68 68, Sahith Theegala 67 71 67, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 69 70 66
206 Luke Donald (Eng) 68 71 67, Patton Kizzire 69 67 70, Russell Knox (Sco) 71 68 67, Brian Stuard 68 69 69, Gary Woodland 67 68 71, Brice Garnett 67 71 68, Chengtsung Pan (Tai) 71 66 69, Nate Lashley 71 68 67, Greyson Sigg 67 72 67, Brandon Wu 72 65 69, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 68 68 70, Harry Higgs 70 68 68, Adam Svensson (Can) 71 68 67
207 Joseph Bramlett 69 67 71, Brandon Hagy 70 67 70, Kramer Hickok 66 71 70, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 69 70 68, Danny Lee (Nzl) 65 74 68, J. J. Spaun 67 71 69, Nick Taylor (Can) 69 70 68, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 64 71 72, Richy Werenski 65 70 72, Guillermo Mito Pereira (Chi) 69 70 68, Joel Dahmen 68 69 70
208 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 68 71, Chez Reavie 67 72 69, Brooks Koepka 67 70 71, Bill Haas 71 66 71
209 Wesley Bryan 68 71 70, Kevin Kisner 70 66 73, Denny McCarthy 69 70 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 67 68 74, Pat Perez 67 70 72, Doc Redman 66 72 71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70 69 70, Cameron Tringale 68 71 70, Austin Smotherman 68 71 70, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 69 66 74, Harold Varner III 72 67 70, David Lipsky 64 71 74, Paul Barjon (Fra) 68 71 70, Max McGreevy 70 69 70
210 John Huh 71 67 72, Dustin Johnson 67 71 72, Seung-Yul Noh (Kor) 70 67 73, Webb Simpson 67 67 76
211 Blake Kennedy 67 72 72, Curtis Thompson 70 69 72
212 Collin Morikawa 68 70 74, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 70 69 73, Michael Thompson 72 66 74
214 Ryan Brehm 71 68 75
