Emergency 9: FedEx St. Jude Classic, Round 3

Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. TPC Southwind, located just outside Memphis, has been the host since 1990 and plays 7,244 yards to a Par-70.   KNOW THY ENEMY These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. Moving Day saw the leaders separate themselves after 54 holes. Dustin Johnson (65) and Andrew Putnam (64) are five shots clear of third after posting 15-under-par 195. TPC Southwind played the easiest it has in the last four editions on Saturday as the warm weather and lack of wind helped players stay out of trouble. THE FINAL PAIR On paper it looks to be a mismatch. Luckily for Andrew Putnam, golf is not played on paper but rather on a course with sand, water and out-of-bounds. The other good news is Dustin Johnson has everything to play for on Sunday and the pressure is squarely on his very broad shoulders. A win takes him back to No. 1 in OWGR and will see him become the seventh player on TOUR this year with multiple victories (Sentry TOC). Putnam has won twice on the Web.com Tour but his best finish this season in T5 at an opposite-field event in the Dominican Republic. He leads the field in GIR and is T1 in fairways and only has made one bogey on the week. His 64 was the co-low round of the day in Round 3. It won’t hurt if he one-putts the more greens again Sunday! The bad news for Putnam is Johnson’s final round scoring average here is 66.50 including 63 his last time in 2016. IN CINK After reading about his battle against skin cancer, I’ll be honest, Stewart Cink hasn’t been on my radar. He faded even further away after he didn’t fire last week at Memorial, an event where he cashed in 20 of 21 weekends. After a pair of 68’s to open, Cink had it to seven-under for the day through 16 before a late bogey saw him sign for the co-low round of the day (64). The highlight of his day was an ace on No. 8 and that helped him move up 11 spots to solo third. WEREN THE MONEY Richy Werenski (T4) is looking for his first top-10 finish since losing a playoff to Chris Stroud at the Barracuda Championship last August. I should note his best two finishes of the spring have been on courses that are not described as “easy”. He was T11 at the AT&T Oaks Course at the Valero Texas Open and T23 at TPC Sawgrass. The Georgia Tech alum will be paired comfortably with another, Cink, in the penultimate group.  LAST MAN WITH A CHANCE Joining Werenski at T4 is Wesley Bryan — and those fellas find themselves six shots off the lead. If TPC Southwind continues the trend of playing easier every day, it will truly take something historic to even push the leaders. Bryan hasn’t had a top 10 or top 25-finish this season but long-term investors will be anxiously watching tomorrow as that streak will surely end. AMATEUR HOUR For the second year in a row, Ole Miss golfer Braden Thornberry has turned heads at TPC Southwind. Last year the rising junior posted 67-65 on the weekend to claim T4. His bogey-free round on Sunday was one of two with winner Daniel Berger claiming the other. This year the rising senior entered the week off a tough NCAA tournament and opened with 73. He’s played his last 36 holes with 11 birdies against only two bogeys and his 65 Saturday moved him up 30 spots to T10.  MOVING DAY If Billy Horschel is going to extend his streak of top-10 finishes to five events in a row, he’ll need to use the same game plan in the final round as he did in Round 3. Horschel moved up 29 spots to T29 on the back of his 67. Gamers please note this is normal as he closed with 65 last year and 64 in 2015 in his last two visits.  There was no mystery as to why Henrik Stenson couldn’t get going as he lost over four strokes putting during the first two rounds. He painted as many fairways today as yesterday and hit the same amount of GIR but he gained just over two shots on the greens. His 66 moved him up 21 spots to T19. MOVING DAY: WRONG WAY This was just the first round above par (73) for Phil Mickelson in his last 15 attempts. He dropped 35 spots to T49 as he only made two birdies in Round 3, including one from off the green. I’m sticking Lefty on the bench tomorrow as his thoughts are probably drifting to Shinnecock as I type this.  Ryan Blaum dropped 17 places after playing in the final group with Johnson and shooting 74. He made only one birdie and now begins Sunday T19.  Man, when it goes south for Charl Schwartzel, it goes south. His 78 was the worst round of the day by four shots on the easiest day of the event. Bizarre. STUDY HALL Round 1 scored 70.769 (+0.796) and was the easiest opening round in the last four editions. Round 2 saw the scores continue to plummet as the weather cooperated at 70.526 (+0.526). Round 3 became just the second round in the last four years to check in under-par as the average was 69.472 (-0.528). There were four bogey-free rounds as Putnam and Horschel joined Trey Mullinax (65; T7) and Zac Blair (69; T39). The winner of U.S. Open has never won the week prior on TOUR.  Cink’s ace on No. 8 was the fifth of his career. 

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