Leaderboard: Paul Casey takes solo lead

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Sunday at the Valspar Championship sets up as a wide-open and very interesting race: There are two players on top, Davis Riley and Matthew NeSmith, who will be gunning for their first PGA TOUR victories. Those chasing closely include a major and 14-time TOUR winner in 2017 FedExCup champ Justin Thomas and two past and proven Valspar champions (Sam Burns and Adam Hadwin). RELATED: Full leaderboard | JT determined to get back in winner’s circle Riley, 25, is a TOUR rookie, and had one of those shiny penny days on Saturday at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead course where pretty much everything went right. He likely had the parking spot closest to the clubhouse, enjoyed the hottest lunch, and, had there been a Las Vegas-type slot machine somewhere on campus, undoubtedly would been the one to pull the lever and collect all the riches. He birdied half the holes at the Copperhead on Saturday, making them from in the trees and from the sand, nine in all, to overtake NeSmith, who played his first nine holes brilliantly but failed to extend the job. Riley’s 9-under 62 was the second-best round of the tournament only to NeSmith’s 61 one day earlier, and there is no reason to think the two cannot go deep again on Sunday atop Copperhead’s receptive greens. As long as they can stand up to the nerves, that is. Riley moved to 18-under 195, which sets the tournament’s 54-hole record; NeSmith, who shot 69 Saturday, is two shots back. Will they be ready to shine when their Sunday moment arrives? Well, that’s an interesting question. They seem to be taking two completely different mindsets into the final 18 holes. Riley said he will bank on his two victories on the Korn Ferry Tour from 2020, and pull good vibes from a few marquee pairings during his rookie season. Though he counts but one top-10 finish in 13 starts, Riley has played with Jon Rahm, Adam Scott and Jason Day, among others, and Saturday played alongside his Alabama Crimson Tide big brother, Thomas, who already was winning college events when Riley was being recruited to Tuscaloosa. If anything was still ringing in the ears of Riley and Thomas by the time they sat down to dinner, it was this: “Roll, Tide, Roll!” And, of course, this from a fan off 18, a nod to Thomas’s new high-rise joggers that he put in play: “Justin, Tampa loves your ankles!!” Thomas, who is looking for his first victory since the 2021 PLAYERS, played solidly himself on Saturday. He grappled momentum and shot 4-under 31 on the back, though a third consecutive 66 didn’t seem so spectacular when compared to Riley’s superb effort. Thomas and Burns, last year’s Valspar champion, will start Sunday three shots behind Riley; Hadwin, the 2017 champion, is five back. “It was really impressive,” Thomas said of Riley’s magical day. “It’s a big moment for a rookie. He handled it like a rock star and made 9-under look very, very easy … barring a crazy chip-in there on 9.” Thomas smiled. The “crazy chip-in” Thomas referred to actually was an uphill bunker shot from 70 feet that Riley threw high into the air and unexpectedly slam-dunked at the par-4 ninth, his fifth birdie in his opening nine. Even stronger was the birdie he made two holes earlier, set up by a 7-iron Riley punched beneath tree limbs from 136 yards, through a tiny alleyway to the green, to 10 feet to steal birdie. Thomas joked he was a tad envious considering he’d made double-bogey 6 from those same left trees on Friday. As good as Riley was playing, he still wasn’t gaining much ground on NeSmith, who made 16 birdies and an eagle in his first 45 holes of the tournament. NeSmith kept the pedal down, went out in 32, and built a four-shot advantage at one point. Thomas said he’d like to think that experience could tilt a hotly contested and hectic final round in his favor on Sunday, but he also knows the two players ahead of him, though winless, are quite capable. “It’s (experience) always very valuable when you have a chance to win,” Thomas said. “But that being said, these guys are clearly pretty fearless and playing some good golf, so it doesn’t necessarily mean they can’t get it done. There’s first-time winners all the time.” Especially in recent months, with four of five winners from the Farmers Insurance Open through The Honda Classic (Luke List, Tom Hoge, Scottie Scheffler, Sepp Straka) holding up PGA TOUR trophies for the very first time. NeSmith, 28, got to 18 under with his own birdie at the ninth (8 feet), and walked to the back nine having not made a single bogey all week. Then he stumbled into four of them, coming home in 2-over 37, shooting 69. NeSmith’s theme for this week was to remove all anxiety from what he is doing on the golf course, not be so results-oriented, and just enjoy the walk and his golf, no matter the outcome. His four bogeys over his final nine was his first turbulent stretch of the week. NeSmith’s response to it was basically one big shrug of the shoulders. “My goal today was to finish 18 holes and I finished 18 holes and I’m really happy,” said NeSmith. “Where we end up, we’ll see on Sunday night.” Even when he played poorly on his inward nine, NeSmith talked as if there was a new calm about him as he played. “The last few holes, actually, the funny part is, I did actually feel pretty good with probably five or six holes to go,” he said. “I didn’t play very good golf, but it didn’t really matter to me … We were just going to try and put one foot in front of the other and go from there.” Riley finished ninth in the Korn Ferry Tour’s combined 2020-21 points list to earn his promotion to the PGA TOUR last fall. Along the way, he won the 2020 Panama Championship and the 2020 TPC San Antonio Championship. Different stages, sure, but proving himself there is something he hopes to call upon as he chases a maiden PGA TOUR title on Sunday at Valspar. “No matter the stage, it’s hard to win a golf tournament,” Riley said. “Just being in contention and having that blood flowing is huge. Any time you can get just a pinch of that and get that experience is huge, and winning twice served me well.” How well? The answer could be only 18 holes away.

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He knows how to win majors. He has played two good rounds at Royal Portrush, despite not hitting the ball all that well. Can muscle memory help him overcome his weekend struggles and be a major winner again?

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PGATOUR.COM fantasy columnist Rob Bolton lists his five against-the-grain fantasy options for this week’s event at TPC Deere Run. Scott Brown … The week before Brooks Koepka won the U.S. Open, he sat No. 1 in the Power Rankings for the FedEx St. Jude Classic. He finished T37 in Memphis, thus prompting my remark in the Fantasy Insider for the major that he had all the makings of getting my stronger endorsement a week early. This is where Brown comes in. He occupied a spot in this space for The Greenbrier Classic, meaning that this might be the first time in Sleepers history that a golfer has appeared in consecutive weeks. He missed the cut at The Old White TPC, so consider that the omen that he’s an even better fit at TPC Deere Run. Since his debut in 2012, he’s logged two top 10s and another two top 25s. His scoring average in 18 competitive rounds here is 67.67. Trey Mullinax … Every rookie should be inspired by Xander Schauffele’s victory at The Greenbrier Classic, but Mullinax has a unique connection to the first-time winner in that both were in the conversation on the weekend at the U.S. Open where they posted top 10s to earn exemptions into the 2018 edition. Mullinax’s path began the week prior when he finished T18 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, but his arc since includes a measurable improvement with his approach game. Thanks to ranking T16 in greens in regulation at TPC Southwind, second at Erin Hills and T14 at The Old White TPC, the University of Alabama product has climbed 55 spots to T85 on TOUR in the stat. Combined with his spot at 28th in converting those chances into par breakers, it might be his turn to hoist some hardware. Scott Stallings … We’re still a few weeks from determining who qualifies for the FedExCup Playoffs and secures fully exempt status next season, but every week that passes without locking it up adds to the pressure. It’s a familiar position for the 32-year-old. After arriving at last year’s John Deere Classic slotted 132nd in points, he rose to the challenge and finished T16 in what was his penultimate start before the Playoffs. For the week, he ranked 10th in strokes gained: tee-to-green, T8 in greens in regulation and T4 in par-3 scoring. The timely result bumped him to 126th in points, but he missed the cut at the Wyndham Championship and was relegated to regaining his card at the Web.com Tour Finals. The JDC is back in its customary slot in early July, and it’s as much déjà vu and is it time for redemption. That’s because he’s currently 132nd in the FedExCup standings. Rory Sabbatini … He’s only 41 years old, but he’s been around long enough to have competed in the final edition of the John Deere Classic at Oakwood Country Club as a PGA TOUR rookie in 1999. The South African may have wondered why he didn’t back to the Quad Cities sooner than 2012. He’s 3-for-4 at TPC Deere Run and even co-led after opening the 2014 edition with a 63. The event lands at a great time given that he ended an 0-for-7 slide with a T14 at last week’s Greenbrier Classic. He led the field in proximity to the hole and ranked fourth in strokes gained: tee-to-green and ninth in birdie-or-better percentage. Also co-led in par-5 scoring. Chesson Hadley … Only once in history has a golfer captured victory on the Web.com Tour and PGA TOUR in consecutive weeks. Paul Stankowski recorded that remarkable achievement in late March and early April of 1996. Hadley can join him at the John Deere Classic where he gained entry as an alternate via Past Champion status. With his path back to the big leagues secure after prevailing at the LECOM Health Challenge on Sunday (to rise to fourth in Web.com earnings), the PGA TOUR’s 2013-14 Rookie of the Year was able to accept the spot in the field at TPC Deere Run. He missed the cut in both of his previous appearances, but it’s likely that he’s in as good a place mentally than ever before, not to mention that he’s third on the Web.com Tour in the all-around ranking. Incidentally, Jason Gore is the only other golfer to win on both circuits in the same season. He turned the trick in 2005. So, if you’re keen to believe that Stankowski and Gore have established a once-in-a-decade trend, snap to attention for Hadley’s first try at joining the club.

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