PUNTA CANA, Domincan Republic – For the second time in as many tournaments, Corey Conners will be in the final group on Sunday at a PGA TOUR event. Conners, 26, led after each round at the Valspar Championship in Tampa, Florida two weeks ago before dropping back Sunday. He said afterwards that it was a great learning experience for him and he couldn’t wait to get into that position again. He didn’t have to wait long. After a 5-under-par 67 on Saturday, Conners sits at 14-under par at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship and is just two shots back of the leader, Brice Garnett. He’ll be paired with Garnett and Tyler McCumber for Sunday’s finale. In a full-circle kind of way, Conners and Garnett were actually paired together at Web.com Tour Q-School in 2016. They both earned status that week for the Web.com Tour’s season in 2017. And now, they’re chasing their first PGA TOUR titles. Conners’ round was highlighted by a chip-in birdie on the par-3 9th after hitting his tee shot well past the green. He was below the hole and didn’t see that it actually found the bottom of the cup, but heard a cheer and walked up to see the ball having disappeared. “I was really just trying to make sure that I hit hard enough to get it up there, and kind of the harder you hit it, the more spin you’re going to have and the quicker it would stop. Just tried to hit a solid shot, came out really nice. I couldn’t see a thing from down there but got a little applause. I was like, ‘oh, maybe that went in.’ Got up there and didn’t see it… and there you go, it was in the hole,â€� said Conners. “That was a nice bonus.â€� Conners admitted the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook (home of the Valspar Championship) is much different than Corales Golf Course, but now that he’s been in the final-group scenario before, he’s in a strong mental state going into Sunday. “I think still I’ve got to do the same things, just got to trust my game, be patient out there, take advantage of some chances when they present themselves. But yeah, just be solid,â€� said Conners. “I’ve been hitting the ball really well all week and really looking forward to tomorrow, just keep doing more of the same stuff.â€� Conners, who played this tournament last year on the Web.com Tour, said he had a bit of a leg up over his fellow playing competitors who may have only been here this year. He looks to become the third Canadian in two years to capture a TOUR title (fellow Kent State University alum Mackenzie Hughes won The RSM Classic in 2016 while Adam Hadwin won the Valspar Championship in 2017). Conners’ coach, Derek Ingram – the national team head coach for Golf Canada and also a coach of Mackenzie Hughes’ – says he likes Conners’ chances tomorrow, especially with the final-round experience so fresh under his belt. “Very few guys will strike the ball as solid and hit more greens,â€� said Ingram. “I love his chances if he just played his game.â€� To the victors on Sunday go 300 FedExCup points and a two-year exemption on TOUR. Conners is getting married in October, so that job security is a big bonus, especially for a PGA TOUR rookie. The Canadian contingent have made a bit of a habit around big wins near big life moments, as Hadwin captured his title just two weeks prior to his nuptials last year, while Hughes got married a month prior to his victory. His fiancé, Mal – they got engaged just a few weeks ago – along with his mom, aunt, and uncle have been following him all week. But even with everything else going on around him, Conners is simply focused on the task at hand. “I have lot of confidence right now,â€� he said. “I’ve been playing well for quite a while, so I’m just going to keep trusting things and have fun.â€� OBSERVATIONS Garnett stays on top Brice Garnett opened his round with a bogey – the first in 36 holes – but despite Saturday being a bit more up-and-down than the rest of his week, the result stayed the same after the third round in Punta Cana. Garnett was in the lead. The 34-year-old shot a 3-under-par 69 Saturday and holds a two-shot lead going into Sunday. Although he’s never won on TOUR, he won twice a year ago on the Web.com Tour and said he’ll be taking a lot of that experience into Sunday’s final round. “I just know that it’s a long day. You’ve got another 18 holes, so much can happen,â€� he said. “Just going to try to keep the golf ball in front of me out here. I have that self-belief this week and that’s what I had last year when I won, so I’ll just keep my head down and just keep going.â€� Monday Qualifier McCumber Tyler McCumber has never played a PGA TOUR event, but he has a pretty good ear to lean on in terms of asking for advice. His father, Mark, won 10 times on TOUR, and was here at the Puntacana Resort & Club Championship early in the week as his son was primed to make his PGA TOUR debut after Monday qualifying into the event. The younger McCumber also has his cousin, Josh, on the bag. So the three McCumbers’ spent a few nights together in a hotel room dubbed the ‘McCumber Slumber.’ McCumber said it’s made him feel comfortable as the week as gone on, and, after a 5-under-par 67 on Saturday, he now sits solo third. “It’s been an awesome experience,â€� he said. “I definitely do feel like it’s where I want to be and where I belong.â€� McCumber admitted Saturday’s round – where the wind was blowing much stronger than in the two days’ previous – was tricky, and said it was important for him to keep his foot on the gas to make up ground on the leaders. He was bogey-free, the only golfer in the top five to not have a blemish on his scorecard during the third round. “Birdies were at a bit more of a premium, “ he said. Although McCumber has never played on TOUR, he’s had some experience in the winner’s circle having won three times on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica. McCumber is also looking to notch the best finish by a Monday Qualifier this season. The best result so far is Scott Strohmeyer (T4 at Sanderson Farms) and Trey Mullinax (T8 at Valspar). Lovelady looks for redemption A year ago, Tom Lovelady was disqualified from the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship on the Web.com Tour. This year? He’s back, and in a big way. Lovelady shot a 4-under-par 68 Saturday and sits fourth going into Sunday’s final round. He made just one bogey – a tough three-putt, he said – but was able to rally back with three birdies on the front nine. He was fine to get his one bogey of the day out of the way early. “I tend to bounce back fairly well. But I knew that it was the second hole and I have 16 holes left, I could have either turned that into a 76 or a 68. So I try to take the high road and realize I was going to make a bogey today just at some point,â€� he said. “I hate that it was a three-putt, but at the same time I went ahead and got my bogey out of the way and kept on playing golf.â€� Lovelady admitted his season hasn’t been going as consistent as he would have liked, but he’s hoping for a big result this week to propel him forward on a positive note. “I’m not scoring as well as I did last year,â€� he said. “I’m just kind of waiting for some momentum to kind of go my way and just kind of ride as long as I can.â€� NOTABLES George McNeill – The 42-year-old sits T8 through three rounds and is looking for his first top-10 finish on TOUR since 2015. He has some success in the Caribbean, having won the 2012 Puerto Rico Open. Denny McCarthy – Having played the first two days with Tony Romo, McCarthy was able to keep the momentum going Saturday. He shot a 1-under-par 71 and sits T5. He’s looking for his best ever TOUR finish. Seungsu Han – Han is T5 this week, at 10-under, after an even-par Saturday. The 85th-ranked golfer in the world hasn’t played a TOUR event since 2010. He won the Japan Golf Tour in 2017 and also got a spot in the Travelers Championship as a 16-year-old. QUOTES I think I flew my 9-iron over 190 yards, which is a little further than normal to say the least.Just having competitive rounds on this course, knowing where you can miss it, it definitely does help. SUPERLATIVES Driving Distance Leader: 340 yards (Tyler McCumber, who is in position for a top-3 finish in his first ever PGA TOUR event) Longest Drive: 349 yards (Johnson Wagner) Most Greens in Regulation: 15 (McCumber) Fewest Putts: 24 (Shawn Stefani) Lowest Round: 67 (Corey Conners, Harris English, McCumber)
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