Corey Conners made the turn at seven under in Saturday’s third round of the Northern Trust in New Jersey and finished the day with a nine-under 62.
Conners is tied for ninth at 12 under going into the finale at Liberty National. That final round, however, is expected to be played Monday rather than Sunday, with Tropical Storm Henri expected to hit the area.
PGA TOUR Statement on Tropical Storm Henri pic.twitter.com/HgMVRpmJER
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) August 21, 2021
“I struck the ball well and was able to hole some putts, really didn’t get myself in too much trouble, and yeah, took advantage of some opportunities that I was able to give myself,” said Conners, who finished his outstanding first nine with an eagle, holing his approach shot with a nine iron on that par four.
“I hit a nice drive, got it down towards the end of the fairway, had 152 to the pin. A little bit into the wind off the left, and talked with my caddie, Danny [Sahl], tried to go right at the pin,” he said.
“Normally, I like to work the ball a little right to left. I knew that shape would get help on the pin with the wind and struck it really solid,” he added.
“I couldn’t see the ball go in because of the uphill approach, but there was some volunteers behind the green and a few fans that made me realize that it had went in. I saw it land. I thought it was going to be pretty good. It was a bonus for it to drop,” said Conners.
“With the softness of the greens, there wasn’t a lot of flags I was shooting away from today. Some of the pins were in kind of little bowl areas, but pretty much trying to attack the golf course today with the soft conditions,” he said.
Conners’ only two bogeys came on a second nine that also included four birdies.
Mackenzie Hughes shot his second consecutive 69 and is tied for 28th at eight under.
All the scores are here.
Korn Ferry Tour Finals
Adam Svensson shot his second consecutive, bogey free six under 65 on Saturday at the Albertsons Boise Open, where he’s tied for 18th after the third round.
Svensson is 11 under with one round remaining.
Click here for the leaderboard.
PGA Tour Champions
Stephen Ames is tied for ninth, three shots off the lead, after two rounds at the Boeing Classic, where he fired a six under 66 on Saturday.
Ames is seven under with one round remaining.
That leaderboard is here.
Mackenzie Tour–PGA Tour Canada
Amateur Noah Steele of Kingston, Ont., started Saturday’s third round of the Osprey Valley Open in Caledon, Ont. with a first-hole birdie and eight consecutive pars, but the back nine was a different story.
Steele recorded an eagle and five birdies coming as he finished with a seven-under 64 that left him at 18 under overall and five shots ahead of Blair Bursey of Gander, Nfld., and another amateur, Etienne Papineau of St-Jean-sur-Richileu, Que.
“I hit a really, really nice approach into 10, within two or three feet and tapped that in for eagle,” said Steele. “I just kind of rode that from there and that was a good kick-starter for me.”
“I would love to just stick to the process that I’ve had, and my game plan, and just stay really, really patient. I’ve been swinging it nice and been doing a lot of really nice things, so I’m really going to change nothing,” he said.
The leaderboard is here.
LPGA Tour/Symetra Tour Qualifying Tournament, Stage 1
Victoria’s Naomi Ko shot a two under 70 on Saturday in Rancho Mirage, Calif., and is tied for sixth after the third round of Stage I.
At eight under through the first three rounds, Ko is six shots off the lead.
Ko is one of three Canadians in the top 95 players and ties who will advance to Stage II, Oct. 21-24 in Venice, Fla., after Sunday’s final round. The others include Megan Osland and amateur Brigitte Thibault.
All of those scores are here.
