The conditions were difficult, making it a challenge to produce strong scores, but many of the golfers at or near the top of the leaderboard were in a good frame of mind after three rounds of the Valspar Championship.
That could set up for an entertaining final round Sunday.
“The leaderboard is stacked,” Germany’s Jeremy Paul said. “There’s probably like 25 guys — 30 guys maybe — that can still win this.”
Colombia’s Nico Echavarria shot a bogey-free 5-under-par 66 in the third round Saturday and joined second-round leader Jacob Bridgeman and Norway’s Viktor Hovland atop the leaderboard in Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Fla.
The three are at 7 under going into the final round.
It’s no wonder Hovland is in a better frame of mind. He missed the cut in his previous three tournaments.
“It’s fun to be in contention,” he said. “But it is a little bit more stressful when you don’t feel super comfortable over the ball.”
Ricky Castillo (68) is alone in fourth place at 6 under.
Among the top four in the standings, only Echavarria recorded his best round of the tournament Saturday.
“We have seen that it’s a hard golf course,” Echavarria said. “You have to drive your ball very well out here. You have to hit the greens. It’s tough around the greens. So we’re going to have a chance tomorrow.”
Echavarria notched the second-best score of the round, bettered only by Justin Thomas (65).
There are 30 golfers within five shots of the lead.
Thomas moved into a tie for fifth place at 5 under, joined by Paul (70), Davis Riley (69), Northern Ireland’s Shane Lowry (70), Taiwan’s Kevin Yu (68) and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune (71).
Thomas was encouraged about the possibilities even though he finished the third round well before the final pecking order for the day was determined.
“Hopefully that’s the one that sparks the week,” Thomas said of the round.
Thomas posted his score before Bridgeman began his third round. Bridgeman played the front side in 2 over before four birdies and a bogey across his first five holes on the back nine.
“I wasn’t hitting it great,” he said. “I wasn’t flustered. I wasn’t really freaking out.”
Bridgeman recovered, in part, with birdies on the two par-5 holes on the back side.
Sam Ryder posted a hole-in-one on the 17th hole. He also had four bogeys in his round of 70, leaving him at 2 under for the tournament.
–Field Level Media
