Rookie Taylor Pendrith of Canada and Tony Finau have shared or traded the lead for three day and have the chance to do it one more time.
Pendrith sank a nine-foot birdie putt on the final hole to cap a 6-under-par 66 to tie Finau, who shot a bogey-free 65, for the lead after three rounds of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Mich.
“I probably have more pressure just because I’ve never won before(on the PGA Tour) and Tony’s a multiple winner, and he won last week,” said Pendrith, who was a stroke ahead entering the round and birdied four of the last five holes, including three in a row through No. 16.
“To get three in a row after that was a big momentum boost and obviously set myself up nicely with those three holes.”
Pendrith, who won twice on the PGA Tour Canada in 2019 for his only pro victories, birdied four of the first eight holes and four of the last five to go along with bogeys on the ninth and 13th holes.
Finau, who won the 3M Open last week for this third PGA Tour victory, collected four birdies on the first eight holes and added three more birdies coming home as he completed his third consecutive bogey-free round of the tournament.
“No bogeys up to this point on the scorecard in the tournament, which is nice,” said Finau, who also won the 2016 Puerto Rico Open and the 2021 Northern Trust. “I think it’s a golf course that yields some birdies. You’ll have some looks, but to not make any mistakes to this point is nice and I think that’s the main reason I’ve kind of found myself on top of the leaderboard.
“If we put together a good round, might be a two-man race.… I just want to keep it up for one more round.”
Rookie Cameron Young birdied five of the first eight holes and followed a 63 by shooting 65 and is four strokes back in solo third, followed by Stephan Jaeger of Germany, who had three straight birdies down the stretch in a 65 and is one more down in fourth, fourth-ranked Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos and UCLA, who made seven birdies on the first seven holes and is another stroke behind in fourth, and Scott Stallings, who had two birdies on a flawless back nine and is seven shots back in fifth.
Taylor Moore birdied six of the last seven holes for a 65 and is eight down in a tie for sixth with Si Woo Kim of South Korea, who birdied three of the first four holes to kickstart a 65, while Chris Kirk made two late birdies for a 67 and is nine strokes back in a tie for eighth with Adam Svensson of Canada, who birdied three straight holes on the front nine in another 67, and Russell Henley, who had three birdies in four holes on the front en route to a 70.
Two-time major champion Zach Johnson is tied for 11th after a 69, defending champion Cam Davis of Australia shot 65 and is tied for 16th, former world No. 1 Jason Day of Australia finished at 69 and is tied for 29th, and 2019 Rocket Mortgage champion Nate Lashley sank a 10-foot eagle putt on the 10th hole in a 60 and is in a tie for 50th that includes 2020-21 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Will Zalatoris, who also wound up at 69.
For complete results, visit https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html
