Graeme McDowell bounces back after tough finish on Thursday

SILVIS, Ill. – Notes and observations from Saturday’s third round of the John Deere Classic where Patrick Rodgers continues to control the tournament in search of his first win. After a patient 3-under 68, he sits at 16-under and two shots clear. Leading the chasing back are two-time PGA TOUR winner Daniel Berger and three-time TOUR winner Scott Stallings at 14-under. For more from TPC Deere Run check out the Daily Wrap. RODGERS READY TO WIN Patrick Rodgers says his record equaling 11 wins at Stanford (tied with Tiger Woods no less) seem like “yesterday and a lifetime all at the same time.â€� The feelings of how to win when in contention are still fresh for the now 25-year-old college prodigy. The fact he hasn’t yet leveraged his comfort level in the lead with a PGA TOUR win makes it feel like a distant memory. “I had a lot of experience winning in collegiate and amateur golf, and I expected to maybe come out here and win right away. Probably the biggest frustrations as a pro have been not getting it done yet,â€� Rodgers admits as he takes a two-shot lead into Sunday at the John Deere Classic. “When you’re used to having so much success and contending on a regular basis, you kind of thrive on that. Part of the frustrating part of professional golf for me so far has been not having as many chances as I would like.â€� It is just the second time in his three seasons on the PGA TOUR he has held the 54-hole lead. He did so earlier this season at the Farmers Insurance Open before finishing T4. “You have to do some serious soul searching, because the line is incredibly fine between great, great golf and going home on a Friday or just not playing the way that you want. “But this is exactly where I want to be. It’s why I show up every week, to win. I think Tiger started this mentality, or Mr. Jack Nicklaus before him. You play to win. I grew up playing all sports, and you don’t play to finish second. “It’s very rewarding to be up here right now. I know I have a long way to go, but I’m excited for the opportunity.â€� BERGER READY FOR THE CHASE Daniel Berger is arguably one of the hottest players in world golf right now and his confidence level matches the theory as he primes himself to chase a third PGA TOUR win. Berger recently defended his FedEx St. Jude Classic win and then sat and watched Jordan Spieth steal the Travelers Championship from his grasp with a holed out bunker shot in a sudden death playoff. At 9th in the FedExCup this season, he knows a win will shoot him into the top 5. While he starts two-shots back of leader Patrick Rodgers, he believes the outcome at TPC Deere Run comes down to one man. Himself. “I feel like if I play well, then I’m going to win the golf tournament. If I don’t, I probably won’t. That’s really kind of cut and dry there,â€� Berger said after his third round 8-under 63 left him at 14-under. “I’m going to have to play really good. Patrick is obviously playing at a really high level.â€� Berger was three back when he won in Memphis last month. He says he’s been further back and won junior and amateur events before. He thrives on the chase. “I love this position. I feel like if I can get off to a good start tomorrow I can put some pressure on Patrick,â€� he said. “Same kind of thing I did in Memphis and Travelers. I just got off to a decent start and made some birdies, and then kind of kept it going from there. “I think as long as I’m standing, then I’m going to have a shot.â€� CALL OF THE DAY STALLINGS SUPER PUTTER ADJUSTMENT Scott Stallings opened the John Deere Classic with an even-par 71 and sat eight shots back after cursing an ice-cold putter. Now, with a round to go, he finds himself tied for second place after back-to-back 7-under 64s leave him at 14-under and just two shots off the lead. Safe to say the putter got hot. After ranking 130th in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting in round one with 34 total putts Stallings needed just 25 putts Friday and 27 Saturday. He now sits eighth in the field through three rounds in Strokes Gained: Putting. “The last six holes on Thursday I made a little bit of a tweak in regards to my speed and kind of how I was seeing the putts,â€� Stallings revealed. “I missed a lot of short putts early in the round on Thursday and really struggled speed-wise as far as matching the line up and everything. “The last six holes my caddie and I just kind of talked about a few different things as far as getting comfortable. And I was able to transition in the last few days.â€� LAMB FEASTS ON DEERE RUN Rick Lamb had the galleries on 59 watch after getting to 9-under on his round through 13 holes, but unfortunately for the PGA TOUR rookie, he was unable to find the three birdies necessary over the last five holes for a sub-60 round. Instead, a bogey on his final hole left him with an impressive 8-under 63, pushing him towards a very important result in terms of his FedExCup status. Lamb admitted to thinking about becoming just the ninth player in PGA TOUR history to shoot a 59 as he came to the closing stretch. “After I made the birdie on the 4th hole, which is my 13th, at that point it kind of crept in my mind,â€� Lamb said. “Wasn’t something I was nervous or worried about. Just if I keep it going, it’s got a chance.â€� Starting the event in 206th spot in the FedExCup Lamb is battling just to get a spot in the Web.com Tour finals. A decent Sunday could take care of that. He starts the final round in a tie for 8th, five shots off the lead. “It’s big, but just another day on the golf course,â€� Lamb said. “It’s not like you’re grinding on the leaderboard saying, Oh, I need to make to putt to get to this position. I just need to focus on winning the golf tournament.â€� SHOT OF THE DAY ODDS AND ENDS • Bryson DeChambeau will search for his first win from four shots back after a 1-under 70. The former U.S. Amateur champion played the last six holes 2-over to stall his challenge. • Nicholas Lindheim has struggled in his rookie season on TOUR, sitting 183rd in the FedExCup. But he has a chance to change all that on Sunday as he sits in 4th place just three off the lead. • Zach Johnson had a roller coaster round with an eagle, three birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey adding up to a 1-under 70. It was just the third round in his last 35 at TPC Deere Run that was not in the 60s. The former champion sits 11-under, five off the pace. • Jamie Lovemark continues to knock on the door of a first PGA TOUR win. Now with nine top 10s in the last two seasons without a victory the former amateur prodigy once again sees himself in contention. His 66 on Sunday left him tied 5th at 12-under, four shots back. • Stuart Appleby shot 7-under 64, his best round since October 2014. The nine-time PGA TOUR winner sits tied 18th at 10-under chasing his first top-10 on TOUR since finishing runner up in the opening FedExCup Playoff event of 2014. His last win came in 2010 at the Greenbrier Classic where he came from seven behind, shooting 59, to win. • After making the cut on the number 2014, champion Brian Harman equaled Daniel Berger and Rick Lamb for round of the day with an 8-under 63. It lifted him 52 places into a tie for 18th, six shots back of the lead. • Another past champion making the cut on the number, Steve Stricker posted a 6-under 65, his best round at TPC Deere Run since opening with the same score in 2015. BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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JACKSON, Miss. – Patrick Armour celebrated his ninth birthday Saturday in Jupiter, Florida, and his father Ryan wasn’t there to hand him a present. Maybe Armour will bring him a trophy and a $774,000 first-place check instead. Armour took a big step in securing that special prize on Saturday, overcoming chilly weather and a string of bogeys to fire a 5-under 67 in the third round of the Sanderson Farms Championship to take a five-shot lead into Sunday’s final round at the Country Club of Jackson. Armour sits at 15 under par. Chesson Hadley (68) and Vaughn Taylor (70) are tied for second at 10 under. Scott Strohmeyer (68), Beau Hossler (69), Ben Silverman (69), and Seamus Power (71) are tied for fourth at 9 under. Armour, 41, is seeking his first PGA TOUR title in his 105th TOUR event. The journeyman who has been on and off the TOUR since 2007 – he didn’t make a start on the PGA TOUR from 2011-14 – credits his home life for his recent resurgence away from home. Wife Erin and sons Patrick and Nicholas, 6, have added order to his life and helped him focus on his goals. “The kids have helped me become more disciplined,â€� said Armour. “Back coming out of college, you thought you could do everything. But now with kids who get up early, wanting to be part of their life, I want to have energy. I get to bed early and up early, and that’s discipline that’s helping me on the golf course. “I’m happy where I’m at with my family, my caddy, my instructor. My parents are healthy finally, everything is falling into place.” Thursday’s first round and most of Friday’s second round were played in near ideal conditions, breezy with temperatures near 80. When the third round started Saturday, it was in the 40s, and the highs never climbed out of the 50s. Biting, swirling winds added to the chill factor – and the uncertainty on judging shots. An Ohio native who now calls Florida home, Armour fought through those conditions to post the day’s low round – despite making bogeys on holes No. 5, 6, 7. Four straight birdies on the back nine, capped by a 57-foot putt on the most difficult hole on the course, the par-4 16th, helped him regain control. Armour took just 26 putts and made eight birdies Saturday. He followed his bogey string by stuffing an 8-iron to 4 feet for birdie on No. 8, made a 21-footer from the fringe for birdie on No. 10, and then got on a roll – again – on Nos. 13-16. That birdie binge marked the second straight round he parred each of those holes. Asked how he’ll handle being in the final group on Sunday, the even-natured Armour said he’ll do what he’s done each day. “Kind of stick with what you’re doing,â€� he said. “You’re not always going to be able to, but my strength is – obviously, I have figured this out, finally – driving it in the fairway, hitting it on the green, and trying to make putts. I don’t overpower a golf course.â€� Maybe so, but so far he’s overpowered the field – his five-shot lead is the largest 54-hole lead in this event since 1986. OBSERVATIONS Strohmeyer is bidding to become perhaps the most unlikely PGA TOUR winner ever. Strohmeyer, who will be in Sunday’s final threesome with Armour and Hadley, shot 68 on Friday and is in a five-way tie for third at 9 under, six shots off the lead. Several factors make his position highly unusual. One, this is his first PGA TOUR event (he’s never even played in a Web.com Tour event). Two, he gained entry into the event through the Monday qualifier at nearby Deerfield Golf Club, holing out for eagle from a bunker on the third playoff hole. And three, he had to play to get through the pre-qualifier at Deerfield last week just to get into Monday’s four-spotter. “It’s been a rollercoaster,â€� said Strohmeyer, who was a teammate at Alabama with 2017 PGA TOUR Player of the Year Justin Thomas. “When I finished on Monday I thought I was going to miss it by one. I was kind of kicking myself because I left a lot of shots out there. I hung around, hoping for a playoff. And then I had to make like a 15-footer on the second hole just to go to the next one. So it’s been an awesome opportunity.â€� He said he’s leaned on Thomas for advice this week. “He’s got tons of experience with stuff like this,â€� Strohmeyer said. “This is my first PGA TOUR event. He said to take what’s given me but also be myself. I learned the hard way, I guess, three, four weeks ago at Q-School. I tried not to be myself and it didn’t work out.â€� The last Monday qualifier to win on the PGA TOUR was Arjun Atwal at the 2010 Wyndham Championship. There were no bogey-free rounds recorded in the third round. Hadley’s 68 included one bogey, on the par-4 12th, when his second shot from 125 yards out of the rough flew the green. “It came out pretty nuclear,â€� he said. “I was posing. I was looking right at it, and it just smoked the grandstand (behind the green) and then ricocheted off the ShotLink tower. It was not awesome back there, to be honest. If I can do something differently on that hole, I think I’m going to hit the green tomorrow and maybe one-putt for a birdie.â€� With his father Davis Love III following him for part of the round, Dru Love shot 72 and is T-16, nine shots off the lead. Davis Love III missed the 36-hole cut and spent part of Saturday morning bow-hunting for deer. Beau Hossler had one of the more unusual bogeys of the day on the par-4 9th hole, playing his third shot from behind the grandstands that are located behind the green. Hossler’s second shot from 127 yards flew the green, hit a sprinkler head, bounced over the grandstand, and across a cart path before coming to rest in a grassy area next to the CCJ clubhouse, some 52 yards from the hole. After much consultation with rules officials, it was decided his point of relief would have placed him in a flowerbed and bushes, so he played his third shot from the grass, flopping a lob wedge over the grandstand and onto the green. The ball trickled off the front, but he got up and down for bogey. “It was adventurous,â€� he said. “Very interesting.â€� QUOTABLE “The golf course is playing really tough with how cold and how windy it is, so if you start getting wrapped up in how other people are doing you’re going to get yourself in trouble. I’ve played three really solid rounds. I’m driving it well, putting it well. It’s felt really good thus far. I’m looking forward to the challenge of (Sunday) because I know it’s going to be another really tough day.â€� – Beau Hossler, who has shot 69 in each round “You don’t plan on making those. But as Vaughn (Taylor) said when we were walking to 17, ‘That was in from the minute you hit it.’ Hey, I’ll take it. You don’t plan on them, but definitely take them.â€� – leader Ryan Armour, on the 57-foot birdie putt he drained on No. 16 SUPERLATIVES Low Round – Ryan Armour, 5-under 67. He made eight birdies and three bogeys. Longest Drive – 341 yards, by Wyndham Clark, on hole No. 15. Longest Putt – 57 feet, 3 inches, by Armour, for birdie, on No. 16. Toughest Hole – The par-4 6th hole played to a 4.413 average, yielding just three birdies. There were 30 bogeys and two doubles made there. Easiest Hole – The par-5 14th played to a 4.64 average. There were 29 birdies made there, with only two bogeys and one double. CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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