Chez Reavie took charge when Zack Sucher coughed up a five-stroke lead in the third round of the Travelers Championship.
Reavie, who recorded his first top-10 finish in a major with a tie for third last week in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, carded a brilliant 7-under-par 63 to take a six-shot lead over local favorite Keegan Bradley and Sucher to the final round at TPC River Highlands https://tpc.com/riverhighlands in Cromwell, Conn.
“It was crazy,” said Reavie, whose only PGA Tour victory came as a rookie in the 2008 RBC Canadian Open. “Zack came out fast and made some birdies, so at first I was just trying to hang in there.
“We had the wind dialed in on the back nine and I was able to swing aggressively, hit a lot of greens and make some putts. I was able to see my lines on the greens and hit them. It was fun with the people cheering for me out there.
“I putted well last week at Pebble and this was similar, although the greens are not as fast, but it carried over to this week.”
Reavie, who has made 46-of-48 putts inside 10 feet this week, collected seven birdies after making the turn to tie the back-nine course record of 28 while posting a 54-hole score of 16-under 194.
Sucher, playing on the PGA Tour for the first time in two years following ankle and knee injuries, birdied four of the first eight holes to build his lead to five before starting the back nine with a bogey-double bogey-double bogey skid on his way to a 71.
Bradley, the 2012 PGA champion who attended the Travelers while growing up, saved a round of 69 by sinking a nine-foot par putt on the final hole.
Jason Day, playing for the first time with Tiger Woods’ former caddied Steve Williams on his bag, had a 68 and is seven behind in a tie for fourth with Roberto Diaz of Mexico, who made three straight birdies on the back nine in a 67.
Tenth-ranked Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis shot 64 and is eight strokes back in a tie for sixth with Kevin Tway, who totaled 66, Tommy Fleetwood of England, who wound up at 67, and 2016 Travelers winner Martin Laird of Scotland, who finished at 68.
Eighth-ranked Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos and UCLA shot 65 and is nine down in a huge tie for 10th with Andrew Landry (65), J.J. Spaun (66) of Los Angeles and San Diego State, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (67) of South Korea, Wyndham Clark (68), Joaquin Niemann (69) of Chile, Vaughn Taylor (69), Ryan Blaum (69), 2014 Travelers champion Kevin Streelman (69) and Adam Long (70).
Seventh-ranked Justin Thomas is tied for 34th after a 70, defending champion Bubba Watson saw his chances to win the Travelers for a fourth time disappear with a 73 and is tied for 51st, while top-ranked Brooks Koepka shot 72 and is in a tie for 67th that includes sixth-ranked Francesco Molinari of Italy, who came in at 71.
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