Robert Garrigus struggled on the back nine and finished with a bogey to shoot 1-over-par 70, but will take a one-stroke lead over Kevin Na into the final round of the Valspar Championship on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla.
Garrigus, who grabbed the lead with a 66 in the second round, birdied three of the first five holes in round three to build a four-shot lead, but did not have a birdie the rest of the way while making bogeys on the 12th and 18th.
Despite missing par putts under four feet to record those bogeys, he remained upbeat.
“I had fun,” said Garrigus, whose only PGA Tour victory came in the 2010 Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Walt Disney World. “I’m in a good position. If I play a good round tomorrow, if I shoot under par, they’re going to have to come get me.”
Na, from Diamond Bar, trying to win for the first time since the 2011 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, carded four birdies and a single bogey at No. 10 in a 68 that included a chip-in birdie from 27 feet on the 15th hole.
John Senden of Australia was two shots back in third after a bogey-free 64, making birdies on four of the first five holes, and U.S. Open champion Justin Rose of England was another stroke back in fourth following a 69 in which his only bogey came on the last hole.
Retief Goosen, the two-time U.S. Open champion from South Africa, bounced back after making the cut on the number with a bogey-free 64 and was four strokes back in a tie for fifth with Charley Hoffman, who had a 67, and Scott Langley, who shot 69.
