Northern Trust Open: McGirt leads by two heading into the final round
William McGirt shot a six-under 65 in the third round of the Northern Trust Open to take a two shot lead over Charlie Beljan and George McNeill. McGirt is at 12-under heading into Sunday’s final round.
Despite going seven-under over the first 13 holes, McGirt spoke about not having a good warm-up this morning, “Nothing felt good warming up, putter didn’t feel good and the swing really didn’t feel good. Maybe there’s something to it.”
McGirt ended the day hitting 14 greens, and taking only 28 putts on the quick greens at Riviera.
Charlie Beljan shot a 68 in the third round to get to ten-under (T2). Beljan credited his ability to stay patient early on, “Will McGirt and Brian Harman started out hot, put on a putting display, and I got frustrated not rolling them in, but stayed patient, and put myself in great position for tomorrow.”
George McNeill shot a five-under 66 to move into a tie with Beljan at ten-under. McNeill broke his left collarbone in November, and has been nursing it back into playing shape, “My first week back was Scottsdale, and I didn’t play very well…everything was real tight and I was in the trailer every day, but just getting out and beating balls and playing and getting my body back used to swinging at it on a regular basis has helped a lot…and this week it’s feeling much better.”
Jason Allred and Brian Harman are tied for fourth place at nine-under. Allred Monday qualified for the Northern Trust, and fired a four-under 67 in the third round. He played college golf at nearby Pepperdine University, and the golf team supported him on the course today, “They are on their way to a tournament down in Palm Desert today, so I think they pushed their departure out a couple hours and came out here and cheered me on, which meant the world, it was great.”
Brian Harman shot a 68 to get to nine-under total. He had an eagle and three birdies over his first six holes, but had a rough patch in the middle of his round before making a birdie on 17.
McGirt, Harman, and Allred will be looking for their first win of the PGA Tour tomorrow.
There is plenty of star power a few spots down the leaderboard. Bubba Watson fired a seven-under 64 to get to eight-under total (T6). Spieth, Walker, Schwartzel, and D. Johnson are all tied for sixth place with Bubba.
Link to Leaderboard.