Emergency 9: THE NORTHERN TRUST, Round 3

Here are nine tidbits from the third round of THE NORTHERN TRUST gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, New Jersey is hosting for the fourth time since 2008 and plays 7,385 yards to a Par-71. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 selected, plus one, golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. Everyone loves perfect weather including gamers and this week has been just that. For the second time in two rounds the bar was set with the lowest round of the week. Keegan Bradley bested Adam Scott’s 64 by two and Bryson DeChambeau bested it by one. The weather looks to be solid for the final round Sunday so it will be interesting to see if that trend continues. Laying the Wood Bryson DeChambeau birdied half of the holes at Ridgewood Country Club to post a career-best score of 63. He’ll take a four-shot lead into the final round with Bradley as he looks to pick up his second win of the season. Captain Furyk has already had him on the radar and tomorrow’s audition could seal his spot on the Ryder Cup team. He’s in the top 10 in Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green (7th) and is second in Strokes-Gained: Putting. Nice combo! Best Round on the Course Keegan Bradley tied the composite course record as his bogey-free 62 equaled Hunter Mahan’s mark from 2008. Bradley is four shots adrift as he looks to pick up his first win since 2012 at the World Golf Championships – Bridgestone Invitational. On that Sunday he began four shots behind 54-hole leader Jim Furyk and fired 64 to steal the title by a shot. Another 64 tomorrow and a repeat of history could be possible. He hit all 18 GIR for the first time in his career and only needed 27 putts. Another Audition Tony Finau racked up 10 birdies playing with Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk at Bellerive but faded on the weekend to T42. His only finish outside the top 10 in the majors didn’t bother the big hitter as he’s right back into the mix this week. His bogey-free 66 was buoyed by converting all five up-and-downs on GIR that he missed. He leads the field in Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green and Around-the-Green. Every round this week has been better than the previous one and that trend will need to continue tomorrow if he’s going to make up a five-shot deficit. I Spy Spieth Each round the putter has improved with the best of the bunch coming in Round 3 as Jordan Spieth gained almost 1.5 strokes on the field on the greens. After an opening bogey he produced a clean card that included eight birdies as his 64 pushed him up 37 spots to T7. I’m interested to see if he can back up a low one with another low one as this could be a harbinger of things to come in the FedExCup Playoffs. No Doubting Thomas The most popular selection this week, Justin Thomas, has posted all three rounds in the 60’s but hasn’t busted a low one just yet. He’ll have to find one on Sunday to break into the top 10 and make DeChambeau think about it. His last 11 rounds are 69 or lower so another top 10 should be around the corner. His last two events saw him win at WGC-BI and cash T6 at the PGA Championship. Moving Day Gamers have seen this drill from Billy Horschel before at this time of year! His bogey-free 65 saw him leap frog 19 places to T5 as he looks to break inside the top 30 in the FedExCup Playoffs. He’s 24-under in his last seven rounds dating back to the Wyndham last week. #HeatCheck. … Aussie Cameron Smith jumped 14 spots to T3. Fantasy golf is hard.  Moving Day: Wrong Way The duo of Brooks Koepka and Jamie Lovemark entered Saturday in the final pairing and will start Sunday T7 and T14, respectively. Neither broke par as both of their putters went ice cold. Lovemark still leads the field in Strokes-Gained: Putting but after gaining four shots each round, he lost almost a full shot Saturday. Koepka ranked dead-last in that same stat Saturday. Study Hall The Round 3 scoring average was 69.825, the lowest of the tournament. … There were six bogey-free rounds, including a 68 posted by Tiger Woods (T49), to bring the total on the week to 10. … There’s Louis Oosthuizen inside the top 15 (T14)! The last time he was in the news he was WD just minutes before his tee time at the PGA Championship. … DeChambeau has made 20 birdies to lead the field. … Of the top 10 players in Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green category seven currently reside inside T7 or better on the leaderboard.

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