Séamus Power needed to hole a 12-and-a-half-footer on Friday evening to make the cut and now, after a superb seven-under 64, he’s just outside the top 20 going into the final round of the PGA Tour’s Bank of Utah Championship at Black Desert Resort.
The two-time PGA Tour winner began round three on the back nine and reached the turn at three-under after birdies on the 11th, 14th and 18th holes, and then added two more back-to-back on the par-3 third and par-4 fourth. Already on course to make a big move up the leaderboard, he kept the pedal to the floor with two par-5s in his final three holes and he took care of both, completing a bogey-free 64 – the second-lowest round of the day – which lifted him into a share of 21st at -13.
Entering the week ranked 104th in the FedEx Fall Rankings, he’s now projected to move to 102nd and could move inside the top 100 with a strong final-round showing which would put him on course to regain full membership having lost his full playing rights just under 12 months ago.
Austin Smotherman began the third round in pole position and responded with a string of birdies each time someone caught him on Saturday, making one last birdie on the 18th hole for a six-under 65 which put him at 23-under and gave him a one-shot lead over Doug Ghim going into the final round.
At stake for Smotherman and Ghim is a chance for their first PGA Tour victory. Smotherman is making his 100th career start, Ghim his 192nd.
“I think it’s good pressure,” Smotherman said. “That’s what we work for. That’s the spot you want to be. Coming down, you kind of hold all the cards. I’m sure there’s going to be some energy.”
Smotherman’s 23-under tally already matches the 72-hole score at last year’s championship, but he knows that he’ll need to keep the foot down on Sunday as for the third day running somebody shot 62 and the four-stroke gap between second-placed Ghim and the trio of Ben James, Kevin Streelman and Trace Crowe could quickly disappear.
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