Leaderboard: Rocket Mortgage Classic

Andy Gardiner, the CEO of the proposed Premier Golf League, told ESPN on Wednesday he is hoping to meet with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan to explain his concept. “All we want is a conversation,” Gardiner said.

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JACKSON, Miss. – Notes and observations from the third round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson. LEADING LIGHT Cameron Champ has led the Sanderson Farms Championship since Thursday, but his position atop the leaderboard was tenuous after his approach shot bounded over the green on the 12th hole. Champ was leading by one when his wedge shot from the rough flew the green and took a hard bounce, settling 20 yards past the green. His ball sat on a tight lie and he was staring at a lake on the other side of the putting surface. Champ opted for the safe play, a bump-and-run. That removed the threat of hitting it into the water. His shot stopped short of the putting surface, though. “I wasn’t trying to get too cute with it,� Champ said. “If I got lucky and it just barely trickled on, great. If not, I would just take that chip and live with it.� It looked like he would lose at least one shot on Saturday’s hardest hole. He chipped in, instead, to par Saturday’s hardest hole. “Luckily, I was able to pull it off and make a nice par,� he said. He took control of the tournament after that, making birdies on the next three holes. The run started with a 9-iron to 6 feet on the par-3 12th hole. He unleashed a 349-yard drive on the next hole, then hit a 6-iron just left of the green. A chip and a putt gave him his fourth par-5 birdie of the day. Another greenside up-and-down, this time from a bunker, gave him a birdie on the 292-yard, par-4 15th. Champ walked off that green with a four-shot lead. He holds that same advantage after parring the final three holes for a 64 that matched the low score of the day. Corey Conners, a second-year TOUR player, also shot 64 and will begin the final round in second place. TOUR veterans D.J. Trahan and Shawn Stefani are five back. OBSERVATIONS A HONEYMOON WIN?: Seven days ago, Corey and Malory Conners got married in Ontario, Canada. The Sanderson Farms Championship is doubling as their honeymoon. Sunday could bring a happy ending, as Corey is playing in the final group. “It would be really special to have her here and win,� he said. “We had an awesome wedding and are kind of excited to have it over with so we can start a new chapter in our lives.� Conners, 26, is playing this season on conditional status after finishing 130th in last season’s FedExCup. This is the third time he will start the final round in first or second place. He shot a final-round 77 at the Valspar Championship after holding a one-shot lead. He was in second at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship before a final-round 76. HOPEFUL HAAS: Bill Haas needs a solo eighth-place finish this week to fulfill a medical extension. A 67 on Saturday gave him an opportunity to meet that mark. He will start the final round in a seven-way tie for eighth at 9 under par. “I think if I focus on that then it hinders you,� the 2011 FedExCup champ said. “I’m certainly not going to hang my future on tomorrow’s round.� Haas also has the opportunity to start the season with back-to-back top-10s after having just one last season and missing the FedExCup Playoffs for the first time in his career. He finished T10 at the Safeway Open. QUOTABLES You want to get off to a good start in the year, and when you have your little break over Christmas know you’re in good position.As soon as I hit it I thought it was going to be a good shot. It disappeared before I even knew it. SUPERLATIVES Low round: Champ and Conners both shot 64. Champ started the day with a share of the lead and is now four ahead. Conners jumped from 15th to second. Both players had nine birdies and one bogey. Longest drive: Tom Lovelady’s 353-yarder on the 14th hole was the longest of the day, four yards longer than Champ’s tee shot on the same hole. They combined for Saturday’s five longest tee shots. Lovelady had three (353, 343, 340). Champ had two (349, 342). Lovelady is in 30th place (71-71-68). Longest putt: Stefani holed a 54-footer for birdie on the par-3 13th in his second-round 68. Hardest hole: The 428-yard, par-4 12th played to a 4.4 stroke average. There were twice as many double-bogeys (4) as birdies (2) on Saturday. CALL OF THE DAY For play-by-play coverage of the final round of the Sanderson Farms Championship, listen at PGATOUR.COM. SHOT OF THE DAY

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Bubba Watson defends his title and seeks to join the late Billy Casper as the only four-time winner of Connecticut’s annual PGA TOUR stop, as the circuit switches coasts back from Pebble Beach for its 36th visit to TPC River Highlands. Brooks Koepka is slated to make the trek one week after his quest for a historic third consecutive U.S. Open title, while Phil Mickelson is set to end a 15-year absence from a place where he became the tournament’s only back-to-back winner in 2001 and ’02. FIELD NOTES: Patrick Cantlay, whose first visit to Greater Hartford as a 2011 amateur featured a 60, is back for his fifth appearance. He’s just three weeks removed from winning the Memorial Tournament for his second TOUR win. … Paul Casey, who couldn’t close out a four-shot lead heading to last year’s final round, is back in search of an elusive Hartford win. He also was a playoff loser to Watson in 2015. … England’s Tommy Fleetwood will get his first look at TPC River Highlands. … Outgoing U.S. Amateur champ Viktor Hovland and Oklahoma State teammate Matthew Wolff are set to make their professional debuts. Two other freshly minted pros accepted invites – Collin Morikawa makes his third pro start and Justin Suh his second. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES: Watson, who preceded last year’s victory with playoff wins in 2010 and ’15, now sets his sights on Casper’s Hartford standard. Casper captured what was then the Insurance City Open in 1963, following with victories in ’65, ’68 and ’73. … A Watson triumph also would lift him alongside Mickelson as the event’s only back-to-back winner. … Mickelson sets foot at River Highlands for the first time since 2003, when he tied for 58th in his bid for a three-peat. That’s when the event was played in August, rather than following the U.S. Open. … Each of the past five Travelers champions has won after playing the U.S. Open, though Russell Knox’s 2016 victory gets an asterisk. An Olympic shakeup that year moved the Travelers back to August. … Just four New Englanders have won in Hartford, though two came back-to-back in 2005 (Brad Faxon) and 2006 (J.J. Henry). The others are Paul Azinger (1987, ’89) and Bob Toski (1953). … The Travelers has gone to a playoff in each of the previous three odd-year editions – 2017 (Jordan Spieth), 2015 (Watson), 2013 (Ken Duke). COURSE: TPC River Highlands, 6,841 yards, par 70. Located about midway between Hartford and New Haven, River Highlands is the third course to occupy the property and enters its 36th year as a PGA TOUR venue. Pete Dye oversaw a complete redesign of the former Edgewood Country Club in 1982, and Dye protégé Bobby Weed offered an upgrade nine years later in consultation with former TOUR pros Roger Maltbie and Howard Twitty. The spotlight falls on Nos. 15-17, which play around a four-acre lake and create a finish considered among the most thrilling on TOUR. River Highlands is the site of the TOUR’s only 58, when Jim Furyk reeled off 10 birdies and holed out for eagle at the par-4 No.3. For those visiting Greater Hartford, must-play courses include Lyman Orchards GC (Middlefield, Conn.) and Richter Park GC (Danbury, Conn.). Book your reservations via TeeOff.com. 72-HOLE RECORD: 258, Kenny Perry (2009). 18-HOLE RECORD: 58, Jim Furyk (4th round, 2016). LAST YEAR: Watson wiped out a six-shot deficit for the second time at River Highlands, chasing down Casey with a 7-under-par 63 for his third victory of the 2017-18 season. After posting 33 on the front side, the lefty heated up with five birdies after the turn. A birdie at the drivable par-4 15th lifted Watson into a tie with Casey, and he moved in front when his second shot at No.18 stopped 3 feet from the flagstick for a closing birdie. Casey followed up a Saturday 62 with a 72, falling into a share of second with Stewart Cink (62), Beau Hossler (66) and J.B. Holmes (67). Watson also overcame a six-shot deficit to win in 2010, eventually capturing a playoff with Corey Pavin and Scott Verplank for his first PGA TOUR victory. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured groups). Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes). International subscribers (via GOLF.tv): Thursday-Friday, 11:030 to 22:00 GMT. Saturday-Sunday, 13:00 to 22:00.  RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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