Love thriving in Greensboro

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Notes and observations from Saturday’s third round of the Wyndham Championship, where Henrik Stenson went 4-under for his last six holes to shoot 66 and take the lead at 16-under. Kevin Na (65), Ollie Schniederjans (66) and Webb Simpson (68) were just a shot back. For more coverage from Sedgefield Country Club, click here for the Daily Wrap-up. LOVE, 53, SOLID THROUGH 54 There are few sure things in golf, but one is that Davis Love III will thrive in Greensboro. The 21-time TOUR winner and upcoming World Golf Hall of Fame inductee likes the place almost as much as the late Sam Snead, who was 52 when he won for the eighth and last time here in 1965. Snead has long held the record for oldest PGA TOUR winner, but it is a record that may not be long for this world. Love, 53, would break it with a fourth Wyndham victory Sunday. “I spent a lot of time with [Snead], actually,� said Love, who struggled on the back nine (36) but still shot 67 to stay within three of the lead. “Because he was doing a bunch of Golf Digest [instructional] stuff when my dad was teaching. And I had a lot of summers, like in Pinehurst, where I got to hang out with Sam and actually play and work with him. I was kind of like his caddie a lot at the Golf Digest schools. I was very blessed. … He gave me some tips and some lessons, some inspiration. It’s nice to be chasing that record.� Saturday saw Love get into the lead at 14 under, but he bogeyed the par-4 14th hole and failed to birdie the par-5 15th. The two holes, he said, “have killed me every day.� (He is 2 over on them for the week.) Still, Love could still win if he replicates his final-round 64 in 2015. “I’m still feeling good,� he said. “I’m confident. I got in the bunker on 18 and was thinking about making it.� (He splashed out to just over a foot and saved par.) Length is less important than guile at Sedgefield, and Love’s course knowledge is so deep that while others grinded on the range here early in the week, he rested. It had been a long week (78-75) at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, and he’s been playing a lot of golf. “He showed up after midnight Tuesday,� said Dru Love, Davis’s son, who also made it to the weekend rounds but shot 75 to miss the 54-hole cut Saturday. “I never played with him. He’s been very, very excited to get back to this tournament. I’m not surprised at all. He was bummed he couldn’t defend last year, so he feels like this is his chance to defend his title.� In light of his recent health woes, Davis credits his coaches and trainers for keeping him going. “It takes a lot at 53,� he said with a laugh. His struggles on the back nine Saturday owed not to being tired but to being out of position, he said. He admitted to being briefly put off when he saw Dru’s score on the 11th or 12th hole. Like so many other Wyndham watchers, Dru knows it would be unwise to turn his back on his dad. He’ll be here Sunday, watching. He has seen his dad win THE PLAYERS Championship (the second one, in 2003) and other tournaments. This one, though, would make history. NA, SCHNIEDERJANS SURPRISE ON GREENS At first glance, Kevin Na (65) and rookie Ollie Schniederjans (66) don’t seem to have much in common. Forget about character; check out the number of characters in their last names. But look closer and it becomes apparent that they’re both atop the leaderboard for the same reason. Both have struggled on the greens all year; both are in the top 10 in putting at the Wyndham. “Probably the best putting since [The RSM Classic at] Sea Island,� Schniederjans said of the tournament in Georgia last November, when he tied for sixth. “That’s been the difference.� Part of golf’s vaunted Class of 2011, Schniederjans came into the Wyndham at 74th in the FedExCup standings and still in search of his first win. He’s in good shape to make it into at least the first two playoff events, and maybe even the first three, but he’s been getting by despite often shoddy work on the greens. He is 128th in strokes gained: putting (-0.65) for the year. Using a new Callaway Toulon putter, he is seventh (+1.792) this week. (He also is releasing his right hand through the hitting area on short putts, finishing the stroke with only his left.) Na, who drained a 44-foot birdie putt at the 14th hole Saturday, is enjoying a similar putting metamorphosis. He made an adjustment to his setup on the greens last week in an effort to recreate what he felt with the putter in 2009, when he finished 26th in the FedExCup. So far, so good. Na, 93rd in this year’s FedExCup standings, came into this week 112th in sg: putting (-.012), but with the adjustment to his setup, he’s ninth (+1.761) at the Wyndham. “I feel really good about the putter,� said Na, who has made 300 feet of putts over three rounds. “I hope I can keep rolling those putts in, and at the end of the day I’m in a good position.� His lone victory on TOUR: the 2011 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. CALL OF THE DAY ODDS & ENDS: Johnson Wagner (65, two back), who Friday became just the ninth player since 1983 to record an albatross and an eagle in the same round, holed out from 95 yards on the first hole Saturday. He is the eighth player to record an albatross and an eagle on a par 4 in the same event since ’83. … Webb Simpson (68, one back), the 2011 Wyndham champion, bogeyed the 17th hole to fall out of the lead but still has an excellent chance to put a Wake Forest alumnus in the winner’s circle for the fourth time here (Lanny Wadkins/1983, Scott Hoch/2001, Simpson/2011). “I would have liked to have shot a little bit better today,� Simpson said, “but overall, I’m one back, I guess, which we’ll always take starting the week.� … Harold Varner III of Gastonia, North Carolina, played the back nine in 4-under to shoot 66 and get to 13-under overall, just three off the lead. Although he entered the week 141st in the FedExCup standings, he is projected to move to No. 115. … Keegan Bradley (67), Chad Campbell (68), Bud Cauley (68), Patton Kizzire (64), Jason Kokrak (63) and Richy Werenski (64) all went bogey-free. … Saturday 54-hole cut came at 1-under and claimed 11 players, among them three-time major champion Padraig Harrington (76) and 2011 FedExCup champion Bill Haas (72). SHOT OF THE DAY

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