Chesson Hadley shot a bogey-free five-under 65 on Saturday to take a one shot lead after three rounds at the Puerto Rico Open Championship presented by Seepuertorico.com.
The 26-year-old from Raleigh, North Carolina caught fire early at the Trump International Championship course, birdieing four of his first six holes and opened a three shot lead at the moment. He would manage only one more birdie on his last 10 holes.
His birdie at the Par-4 14th hole took him to 16-under, and is the one that sets the difference between him and New Zealand’s Danny Lee, who shot a six-under 64 to take solo second-place at 15-under 201. This is the first time Hadley has held a lead after any round on the Tour.
“Played great.” said Hadley while assessing his round. “It was frustrating, to be honest with you, even though I was playing well, just because I hit it so well today, and you know, I missed quite a few putts, a lot of putts the last 11 holes, but you know what, we're right where we need to be. I'm leading, and you know, that's great.”
Lee, a 23-yeard-old born in South Korea, but raised in New Zealand, started big and finished big. He had four birdies and a bogey on his first six holes, made par on the next six holes, and then repeated the dosage of the first six by closing with four birdies—including 15th thru 17th—and a bogey.
“It seems like whatever I'm doing with my caddy on the greens I'm getting a lot of good breaks, and I'm reading this green very nicely, which is really good.” Said Lee. “And all I gotta do, just hit it on that line and see what happens that mostly it's been really dropping in for me. So I'm very happy with that.”
Tomorrow it will be a role-reversal of sorts between Hadley and Lee. Last May at the Rex Hospital Open in the Web.com tour, Hadley came from five shots to overtake third round leader Lee by two shots. Unlike that round, tomorrow they will be paired together and will tee it off at 12:50 pm ET.
Jason Gore and Jonathan Byrd are tied for third at 14-under 202, two shots back of Hadley.
Gore’s day started with back-to-back bogeys, but he certainly closed “en fuego” as he birdied his last seven holes to finish firing a six-under 66 on Saturday. He matched the best birdie streak on Tour this season with Troy Matteson recording seven at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Byrd carded a bogey-free five-under 67 in what could be a big week for him. This represents his eighth start via a Major Medical Extension, with only two remaining. Entering the week needing $103,090 or 92 FedEx Cup points, he now finds himself in a tie for third and safely inside the position needed with 18 holes to play.
Carl Pettersson (66), Jerry Kelly (67) and 2001 PGA Championship winner David Toms (67) are in a tie for fifth at 13-under 203. Kelly and Toms birdied the last three holes.
George McNeill, the 2012 champion, and Spain’s Rafael Cabrera-Bello both shot four-under 66 and are tied for eighth-place at 12-under 204. Andrew Loupe shared the day’s lowest round honors at seven-under 65 with Ted Potter Jr.
Loupe is tied for 10th place with Ricky Barnes, Richard Lee, Ben Martin and Wes Roach. Potter Jr is tied for 15th place with Tim Petrovic, Brad Fritsch, Steven Bodwitch and Eric Axley who started the day in third place.
James Driscoll, the second-round leader after matching the tournament record with a 63, had a 75 to drop into a tie for 20th at nine under 207.
With more than 78 players making the 36-hole cut, a 54-hole cut was utilized following the third round to reduce the field to the low 70 players and ties. Rafael Campos, the lone Puerto Rican to make the first cut, survived the 54-hole cut by carding a solid five-under 67 and is now in a tie for 42nd place at six-under 210.
The action continues on Sunday with Web.com Tour rookie Max Homa teeing it off at 7:40 am ET. Golf Channel will once again provide the TV coverage from 2:30-5:00 am ET and then from 6:30-9:30 pm ET.