Rickie Fowler is not a kid anymore; it’s time to win a major

SAN ANTONIO — Brandt Snedeker and Beau Hossler each shot rounds of 5-under 67 to join J.J. Spaun and Dylan Frittelli atop the leaderboard after the third round of the Valero Texas Open on Saturday. RELATED: Leaderboard | Top 10 Valero Texas Opens | Martin sees bigger picture at Valero Texas Open Both Spaun, who shot 69, and Frittelli (70) bogeyed the last hole to finish with a share of the lead at 10-under 206. Another final-hole bogey kept Scott Stallings out of the lead. He also shot 65 and was a shot back at 9-under. Matt Kuchar’s bogey at 18 dropped him to 8-under after an even-par round. Spaun birdied four of his five holes heading to the 18th to take a one-shot lead. At the 17th he drove the green at the 303-yard par-4 and almost made the 19-foot eagle. However, he pushed his tee shot on 18 into the trees, punched out, then laid up short of the stream that guards the final green. He ended up with a 22-foot putt for par that he missed. Second-round leader Ryan Palmer didn’t have a bogey Friday. On Saturday he didn’t have a birdie and dropped to 21st place with a 5-over 77. With a bogey-free round, Snedeker was 4-under on the backside. He is looking for his first win since 2018. It would be his 10th TOUR victory. Spaun and Hossler are each looking for their first TOUR win and Frittelli won in 2019 at the John Deere Classic. Maverick McNealy matched the best round of the day with 65, and he was three shots back with Charles Howell III (72), Si Woo Kim (68), Denny McCarthy (68), Troy Merritt (69), Aaron Rai (68), Brendon Todd (72) and Gary Woodland (72). Hossler had three-straight birdies starting at No. 14 when all of his approach shots finished less than 10 feet from the hole. A pro since 2016 after playing at University of Texas, Hossler has a career-best finish of second in the 2018 Houston Open and was third this year at Pebble Beach. Stallings, a 37-year-old three-time winner on the PGA TOUR, started the day out of the top 20 and got in range of the leaders when a 36-foot birdie dropped at No. 8 to go 7-under. It was his third birdie of the day, and two more at 14 and 15 gave him a share of the lead. A victory would be his first since the 2014 Farmers Insurance Open and would qualify him for the Masters next week. He hasn’t played in Augusta since a missed cut in 2014. Kuchar was two strokes out of the lead entering the day, but he was in a six-way tie for the lead when he walked off the second green after a 4-foot birdie putt. He took the lead with a 16-footer on the next. The lead was two with a birdie from 17 feet on the fourth. But his three-putt inside 40 feet on the fifth soon had him back in a tie. Spaun birdied three of his first six holes and reached 10-under at No. 6. It was the second time this week Spaun reached double digits and was on top of the leaderboard. On Friday, he reached 10-under and bogeyed three of four holes including a lost stroke at No. 9. On Saturday, he double-bogeyed the ninth.

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PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Brandt Snedeker has a fair amount of names between him and the top of the leaderboard at the Valspar Championship – 14, if you are counting – but he’s lurking. Traditionally at the demanding Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort, that’s a good position in which to be heading to the weekend.  After opening with a pair of 1-under 70s, Snedeker feels he is close to finding real good form once again, having tied for fifth last weekend against the best field in golf at THE PLAYERS Championship. Back with instructor Todd Anderson once again, Snedeker, a nine-time PGA TOUR champion at age 38, has worked diligently to eliminate the left side of the golf course, misses that had troubled him for the last three seasons. Taking his “oldâ€� feels from the range to the course can been challenging, but he says he is getting closer each day.  “Anytime that I start hitting shots left, I know the (right) arm is getting high in the backswing and the clubface is getting shut and I’m trying to hold on for dear life at that point,â€� he said. “If I can get that clubface more open in the backswing, it allows me to feel that I can release it harder and go.â€� And Snedeker appears ready to go. There were two ways he could view how he played a week at ago on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. He could be pleased with a very good finish (his best since losing in a three-way playoff at the season-opening Safeway Open) or could rue what might have been. After all, Snedeker was 4 over par through eight holes of his Thursday round (he rallied to shoot 69), and 3 over through eight holes one day later (he shot 72).  On Sunday he bogeyed his final hole to shoot 69, having missed some good opportunities on 15 and 17 on his way to the clubhouse. But overall, his play in the heat of a Sunday at TPC Sawgrass marked a nice step.  “I’m old enough and experienced enough now to not get so caught up on what happened on Sunday, knowing I hit a lot of great shots down the stretch, had a lot of putts to get up there tied for the lead and just didn’t make them,â€� he said. “Looking back on the week, I know the reason that it didn’t happen for me is that Thursday and Friday were kind of ‘suspect.’” “I try to take out the positives, that I was really, really close. I always think the great players out here find ways to win. It doesn’t matter how you start out, it’s how you finish, right? I look at last week and said I need to find a way to finish.â€� He did say his solid finish brought with it an added bonus: Snedeker arrived to the Copperhead this week carrying plenty of confidence. Though he has struggled at times with his ballstriking, his short game – old faithful – has pulled through nicely, and he’s right there on the weekend, trailing the leaders by only four shots.  “I don’t think I’d have made the cut this week as bad as I hit it the first two days if I didn’t have that confidence building from last week,â€� Snedeker said. “I know that I’m one swing thought away now from something clicking. The golf course is playing really, really tough, and when it does that it’s great for me. Everybody starts missing greens and it turns into a short-game contest, and that’s right up my alley. I just need to hit a few more quality shots and take a few more chances, and I’ll be right there.â€�

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Here are some of the best photos from Friday at the Safeway Open:

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