Brian Harman was fortunate to be in a good spot when the third round of the Valero Texas Open began.
Harman recovered from a shaky start on the way to an even-par 72 on Saturday to carry three-stroke at windy TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course in San Antonio.
“When you get around this place and the wind blows and the pins are tucked, it’s just a really hard day,” Harman said.
Harman, who’s at 12 under for the tournament, wavered at times after entering the day with a four-shot edge, but came through enough as several contenders stalled in their pursuits.
“Leaning on my short game today, chipped it in there close a few times,” Harman said. “The stat sheet won’t say it, but I made some solid par putts.”
Andrew Novak shot 69 to move to 9 under in second place. Tom Hoge (68) is in third at 8 under and Kevin Mitchell (73) is fourth at 7 under.
Hoge and others did enough to make up ground on Harman, who leads through 54 holes for the fifth time in his career on the PGA Tour.
Not all the golfers held it together. Sam Ryder was in the final group Saturday, but his 77 sent him tumbling to 2 under for the tournament and tied for 28th place.
Mitchell’s decline wasn’t as severe on a day when only two golfers (Hoge and Novak) kept their scores under 70.
“You were just trying to find a green, trying to find a way to just stop the ball,” Mitchell said. “Just wish I was a little closer to Brian. He made two birdies coming in. Still got a chance.”
Chad Ramey (70), Finland’s Sami Valimaki (70) and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune (73) all share fifth place at 6 under.
Harman had bogeys on two of the first four holes. Birdies on Nos. 14 and 17 got him on track.
Yet, the late-round challenges included needing to scramble for par on the par-3 16th hole after his tee shot was in the fringe rough.
Canada’s Corey Conners, a two-time winner of the tournament, had worked himself into contention before a disastrous stretch. He began on the backside and chipped in for eagle on No. 17, sharing third place on the leaderboard.
But Conners played his last two holes in 3 over, with a double-bogey 6 on No. 9.
–Field Level Media
