Lamely, Stuard share 54-hole lead at Soboba Classic
By Joe Chemycz, PGA TOUR Staff
San Jacinto, Calif. -- Pars were good scores in Thursday's opening round of the Soboba Classic, birdies were better in Friday's second round and eagles were the order of the day for the leaders in Saturdays third round. Derek Lamely used an eagle to help him post a course-record, 9-under 62 and grab a share of the 54-hole lead in the $1M event. Lamely finished early at 14-under 199 and was eventually joined by Brian Stuard, who set a frantic pace with a 7-under 29 on the front side that included an eagle but then settled for nine pars to close his day with a 64 and a tie at the top.
Jerod Turner, the 36-hole leader, also used an eagle during his round of 66, getting the 34-year old Texan to 13-under and one back of the leaders heading into Sunday's final rush for the $180,000 first-place check.
Sponsor pick Jeff Hart of Solano Beach, Calif., had the third-best score of the day, a 6-under 65 which pushed him to 11-under and tied for fourth with veteran Craig Bowden (67).
Lamely set the pace early with seven birdies and an eagle, a 50-foot chip in at the suddenly-reachable 375-yard, 17th hole.
"It was 370 and it was almost straight downwind," said Lamely, who ranks No. 5 on the Nationwide Tour in Driving Distance (307.0 yards). "I thought I could sneak it on the green but I knew I absolutely had to hit it as hard and as good as I could. I hit it as hard and as good as I could. It was a fairly simple pitch up the hill."
Lamely had a chance at the par-5, 18th hole for another eagle, but missed a 10-footer and settled for birdie, his course record and the clubhouse lead.
"There was a little work involved but for the most part it was pretty easy," said Lamely after lowering Rickie Fowler's Friday course mark by three strokes. "This was best round of the year. It has to be in the top-2 for me."
And that's where Lamely would wind up if he manages to lock down his second win of the year on Sunday. He stopped Fowler's amateur run in a playoff at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational and a hefty paycheck would move him from No. 12 to No. 2 on the season money list.
"It's still going to be hard. It's still going to be a grind like every other day," he said of Sunday's closer. "Nobody's going to want to give it to you. You have to take it."
Stuard took all the attention from Saturday's spotlight group. He was paired with local favorite Fowler, who grew up about 30 miles away and had a large contingent of vocal followers with him.
"I enjoyed it. I really didn't know what to expect. It was great, he brought a lot of people out here to watch us play golf," said the soft-spoken Stuard, who is in his second year on Tour. "It was fun. They were definitely pulling for him but they were still saying 'nice shot' to me."
The gallery had plenty of opportunities in the first nine holes as Stuard tallied five birdies and an eagle while distancing himself from the hometown hero by five as they headed to the back. His eagle came at the par-5, 6th hole after he canned a 15-foot putt.
"It's human nature to think about results and I tried to put that aside and just think about the next shot," he said. "I thought about, for whatever reason, on 13 or so. I realized I had just shot a 29 on the front."
Stuard had a couple of chances late to take the outright lead but birdie misses of 10 feet and five feet on the final two holes left him tied for the lead.
"I've never been in this position before," said the Michigan native whose last win of any kind came in a mini-tour event nearly three years ago. "I'm just going to try and take it one shot at a time. That's what you're supposed to do, right?"
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Third-Round Notes:
• The tees on the par-4, 14th hole were moved up for Saturday's round. The hole measures 441 yards on the official scorecard but played to a length of 291 yards to the center of the green for round three. There were no eagles and 38 birdies there during the first two days and the hole played to a scoring average of 4.136. On Saturday, there was one eagle, 19 birdies and played to an average of 3.836.
• Brian Stuard's 7-under 29 on the front nine today was the low 9-hole score of the tournament so far. It also matched the fourth lowest 9-hole score on Tour this year -- there have been a trio of 28s, although only two of those were 7-under scores.
• Rickie Fowler, 20, of Murietta, Calif., shot a 1-under 70 and is tied for 10th place.
• Matt Every had four birdies in a row starting at No. 2. Every shot a 3-under 68 and is 4-under for the tournament.
• Jeff Hart, a sponsor pick, birdied four in a row starting at No. 4. Hart shot a 65 and is 11-under, tied for 4th place.
• Steve Wheatcroft had eight birdies en route to his 5-under 66. All of Wheatcroft's birdies came in pairs -- 2-3, 5-6, 11-12 and 17-18.
• Derek Lamely's chip-in eagle at No. 17 was his 12th eagle of the year.
• Brian Stuard's eagle at the par-5, 6th hole was only his fourth eagle of the year.
• Steve Pate leads the field in putting this week with 74 total putts. No player has had 100 putts or fewer in a Nationwide Tour event this season. Pate is at 8-under and is tied for 10th.
• The scoring average has declined steadily the first three days -- from 72.194 on Thursday, to 70.655 Friday, to 69.410 Saturday.
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