PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) – Davis Riley made three birdies from difficult positions to finish ninth and then continued right into the game on Saturday until he had a 9 under 62, a goalscoring record. in the league and took the lead by two shots. in the Valspar Championship.
And yes, an invitation to the Masters is going to Riley, the 25-year-old rookie of the PGA Tour.
He plays in front of the biggest gallery in steamy Innisbrook, most of which are there to watch other Alabama Alabama in the game. Justin Thomas fulfilled his role with 66 for the third time in a row, which any other year would set a league record.
Riley stole the show with a chip run and creative run from the rough outside and under a tree, and with a 70-foot bunker shot that sent the ball into the cup on the fly in 9th place. That’s two of his nine birdies. on the Copperhead course – he only had 20 putts for the round – that helped him turn a five-shot short into a two-shot lead.
“It’s always fun when you’re playing with a good friend and Justin is clearly one of the best players in the world,” Riley said. “There’s definitely a level of comfort there for that.”
Riley is at 18 under 195, breaking four tournament records last set a year ago by Sam Burns, who is still very much in the mix for an overall win.
Matthew NeSmith, who hit a 36-hole record and had a four-shot lead when it was his turn, hit his first shot of the week in 10th and dropped three more. He had enough birdies and a solid save on day 18 with a score of 69.
Riley and NeSmith will be in the final group on Sunday.
Thomas and Burns (67 years old) are three shots short and have winning experience. Adam Hadwin, who won at Innisbrook five years ago for his only PGA Tour title, shot 70 and underperformed five times.
NeSmith has reason to wonder what happened. He got everything right, with a birdie at par 5, a 15-foot birdie in 7th and an 8-foot birdie in ninth to reach 18th under.
But he started to show some cracks in his iron game, going into a bunker on the 10th, hitting a long on a par 3 and hitting a poor chip that led to a bogey on the 16th.
Even so, he was right there with his first chance to win and earn a ride to the next masterswhere his father used to work as a part-time caddy.
“This is what I dreamed of as a kid, to come out here and play in the last group,” NeSmith said. “On the PGA Tour, the last grouping is the best thing in the world, and to have that opportunity and play well is great. And I just try to enjoy the ride. It’s hard. Obviously very difficult. But I Did a good job.
“The goal is to finish 18 holes and enjoy the roam and today we did both, so I’m pretty happy.”
Thomas has gone over a year since his last win, at The Players Championship, and stayed in the hunt midway through Riley’s performance. He made a tough save to finish number nine up front and combined with Riley with a 31 behind number nine to leave three at the back.
Even Thomas was drawn to Riley’s performance.
“It was really impressive,” Thomas said. “It was a big moment for a rookie – anyone – and he handled it like a rock star and made the bottom 9 look very, very easy to stop a crazy chip. there on number 9.”
The Copperhead field was a little more challenging with the strongest winds of the week on the tree-lined grounds. Even three sunny days couldn’t make the greens too hard and the players still aimed and scored low. The average score is 69.7.
Xander Schauffele has 68 and is in the big group at 11 under 202, all of which are likely to fall too far behind to make up such a ground.
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