PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) – Daniel Berger isn’t perfect. He continues to avoid big problems, which almost no one has been able to do at this week’s PGA National.
That is why he remains the leader of the Honda Classic.
Berger started with a three-shot lead and finished with a five-shot advantage, after his first half under 69 helped him 18 holes to win a tournament 15 minutes’ drive from his home.
Shane Lowry (67), Chris Kirk (71), Sepp Straka (69) and first-round leader Kurt Kitayama (71) were placed in second place with six under.
Only 13 of the 73 players undertook shots on Saturday. No one is underestimating, and unless Berger starts making a lot of mistakes, someone will have to do so on Sunday to deny him a fifth PGA Tour win.
Lowry had his best round of the day – and that was just under 3 points.
Rick Gehman and Greg DuCharme discuss Round 3 on Saturday at Honda Classic 2022. Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
“I was driving the ball in play and I managed to place pretty well,” Lowry said. “My bets were pretty average at the start of the week. I found something as the week went on.”
He needs to find something more.
Or more specifically, hopefully Berger misplaced something.
“Obviously you want to go out and catch him tomorrow, but I don’t think you can go catch anyone on this golf course,” Lowry said. “You just do your duty and score the best you can and hope it gets somewhere close to good enough.”
Andrew Kozan, Curtis Thompson, Billy Horschel and Kevin Streelman all shot 68s on Saturday, though in all four cases that simply means hitting parity for the week and nowhere near Berger.
“Today the match was a lot more difficult,” said Kitayama.
There were signs that Berger could be back with the pack, starting with his first tee of the day when he sent the ball into the left side of the field. The rough left also awaited him at number 4, as did a bunker on the side of the pitch at number 7.
He saved par each time, and again at 10, when he put two hearts from 65 feet to keep the card perfect. The only mistake came on the last, his only demon of the day.
Kirk was the closest for a while, just three returns as he advanced to par-4 14. But a dribble into the tree resulted in a brace, and Berger parried his shot before he could. Rolling coldly in a 5 foot position to save par again.
Armed with a five-shot lead, Berger won it at par-3 15, the start of a three-hole stretch known as the “Bear Trap” often frowned upon with aggression. He followed the flag, held the ball in the wind, and watched it lie 7 feet from the hole.
The birdie’s putt was in the middle, taking him to 12 under – six shots ahead of the closest challengers at the time.
Kozan is perhaps the most successful story of the day. He waited 12 hours to play four shots, then played another 68 over the next three hours or so.
Kozan stopped play at fairway 18 par-5 on Friday night because it was dark, a wise move as he needed par to make the cut. After five hours of sleep, he was on the field at 5:40 a.m. Saturday to warm up and resume play at 6:47. He used a couple of short irons to reach the green from about 260 yards, then hit two pars that allowed him to take his first PGA Tour.
It was at 6:59. At 7:35, he started in a solo group to start the third round and at 10:51 he rolled in a birdie quad to end the third round 2 under 68.
“Nothing to lose,” Kozan said.
And quite a bit to gain.
Kozan’s biggest check as a pro to date was $29,333 when he finished second last year at the Korn Ferry Tour qualifying school. He can top that Sunday; Anyone who finishes alone at 43rd or better at Honda is guaranteed at least $30,000, and Kozan is ranked 19th.
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