Sleeper Picks: Travelers Championship

NAPA, Calif. – Notes and observations from Saturday’s gusty third round of the Safeway Open at sun-splashed Silverado Resort & Spa. LEADING LIGHTS SNEDEKER CLOSING IN. Brandt Snedeker was coming back from a rib injury and missed the PGA TOUR’s fall swing last year. As a result, he felt like he was playing catch-up all season and missed the TOUR Championship, a hard pill to swallow given that he won it along with the FedExCup in 2012. This time, Snedeker said after shooting a 69 to take a three-shot lead into Sunday, he’s determined to rack up as many FedExCup points as he can, as quickly as he can. “That’s the reason why I came here,� said Snedeker, a nine-time TOUR winner. “… I want to make sure I get as high on the list as possible so you can kind of set your schedule up and set your season up and not be worried about where you are on the list.� Saturday brought the most challenging conditions yet, with gusting winds that scattered leaves across the greens and made club selection tricky. There’s more wind in the forecast for Sunday, but Snedeker isn’t worried. He likes unsettled weather, and authored one of best bad-weather rounds ever in winning the 2016 Farmers Insurance Open. TWAY A LATE BLOOMER. Kevin Tway bowed out of the Playoffs after THE NORTHERN TRUST (T56) and Dell Technologies Championship (T43) last season. He started well at both, but finished poorly. At the RBC Canadian Open, he contended before a final-round 76 dropped him to a T17. Now, he says, he’s ready to take the next step in his career progression: finishing off a win. “It always takes me a while to kind of get comfortable in new places,� said Tway, who shot 68 to get to 13 under, three back and in solo second. “I got in contention a few times last year and didn’t do very good, so I’ll use tomorrow to learn from the bad and try to do better.� NOTABLES MICKELSON FALTERS. All week, Phil Mickelson insisted he was playing poorly despite posting good enough scores to work himself into the final threesome going into the weekend. The popular lefthander finally faltered in the third round, hitting his tee shot out of bounds on the way to a double bogey at the 8th hole and finding just 5/14 fairways as he shot 74. He missed a birdie putt of just over 6 ½ feet at the downwind, par-5 18th hole and went from three behind starting the day to eight strokes behind and in a tie for 15th. COUPLES CRUISING. A day after he made his 500th cut on the PGA TOUR, Fred Couples, who turned 59 earlier this week, kept on going with a third-round 70 to get to 8-under and in a large tie for 15th place. His round was highlighted by a hole-out eagle from the bunker at the par-5 9th, after which he mostly spun his wheels with a 1-over back nine. “I think this is a good course for everybody, whether you’re 29, 39, 109,� said Couples, who missed a 4 ½-foot birdie putt at the par-5 16th hole. “And I really like it, so that helps.� OBSERVATIONS HAAS TAKES LONG VIEW. Bill Haas is taking nothing for granted after a season in which he was in a car accident and wound up 152nd in the FedExCup, missing the Playoffs. At 36, the 2011 FedExCup champion has been in an especially reflective mood amongst so much youthful talent at Silverado. “Doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the past,� Haas said after shooting 67 to get to 11-under, five back. “You’ve got to keep playing. There’s young guys, year in and year out, coming out that are really good. You just can’t sit by and expect to play out here forever. So just motivated me a little bit to realize I’ve got to get after it if I want to hang around.� IM IN THE MIX. Sungjae Im didn’t waste any time last season as he started his Web.com Tour campaign with a win in his first start and a runner-up in his second. He wound up leading the money list wire-to-wire, and don’t look now, but he’s threatening to win his first start on the PGA TOUR, too, at the Safeway. Im shot his second straight 69 to reach 12-under and will go into Sunday four behind solo leader Snedeker. “I’m not looking at the leaderboard at all tomorrow,� Im said. “So I’m going to play my own game tomorrow.� GET TO KNOW … CHASE WRIGHT. University of Indiana product was mentored by fellow Hoosier and TOUR pro Jeff Overton; the two were even roomies for a time in Bloomington. Wright got engaged last week to Gretchen Zoeller, daughter of 10-time TOUR winner Fuzzy, and shot a third-round 70 to reach 10-under at Silverado. He’s tied for 5th place, six back. QUOTABLES I was kind of stunned.I’m not looking at the leaderboard at all tomorrow.It’s 1,000 percent attitude. SUPERLATIVES Low round: 67 by Bill Haas, Sam Ryder. Longest drive: 398 yards (Martin Trainer/No. 9) Longest putt: 57’ 9� (Sepp Straka/No. 5) Toughest hole: The 464-yard, par-4 13th played to a 4.267 average. Easiest hole: The 580-yard, par-5 16th played to a 4.535 average. CALL OF THE DAY For play-by-play coverage of the final round of the Safeway Open, listen at PGATOUR.COM. SHOT OF THE DAY

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Amy Bockerstette started taking golf lessons at 14 with the hope of playing with her family. She became the first person with Down syndrome to earn a college athletic scholarship.

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