With all of the players in the Performance Flight lead card shooting above their projected score during Friday’s Round 3, Paige Pierce (second card) rocketed to the top of the leader board after she shot seven strokes below her projected 74.
Pierce is now beating her projected by a total of 24 strokes and leads by five strokes. Others still in the hunt after a partially rainy day are: Jonathan Ray (-19), Tommy Arianoutsos and Scott Reek are both at (-16), and Derek Sahr and Christian Olsen are both at (-15).
Though Pierce couldn’t find her putter early, she said it came through about halfway through the round. When asked what her plan was to finish strong, she replied “Just the same as always – keep it in the fairway and try not to do anything crazy, and stay in bounds.”
Ray, who shot three strokes over his projected 81, finds himself down by five strokes to Pierce after leading for the first two days.
“The wind got me a lot more than the rain did. It was pretty gusty this morning,” said Ray.
After playing with Pierce the first round, Ray is looking forward to playing again with her – this time on the lead card.
“Paige is great to play with. She’s a competitor. She pushes you,” said Ray, who added he’s gonna try to collect his birdies early on and then maintain for the rest of the round.
Now in his third Performance Flight, Scott Reek is just one great round away from winning the title. His plan for Saturday is straightforward, “be patient and stay inside the ropes.”
After three rounds of Winthrop, Pierce is pretty satisfied with her first USDGC experience. She’s found that players with big arms, including her, have to be pretty careful trying to run at the pin or suffer the consequences.
