Up and down rounds on the lead card where each member had at least a momentary share of the lead was the story during Friday’s Round 3, after which Paul McBeth’s once comfortable lead was cut to only one stroke over 2-time US Champ Will Schusterick.
McBeth now stands at (-19) followed by Schusterick (-18), JohnE McCray (-17), Patrick Brown (-16), and Nate Sexton at (-15). Several others are also within striking distance.
A chair that was in the wrong place at the wrong time took center stage for a while on Hole 11 when McBeth’s drive landed in bounds and beside it. McBeth was informed he couldn’t move the chair and subsequently threw his next shot from the awkward footing. That shot landed OB and so did his next one and he ended up with a triple bogey.
Starting the round in second place, McCray scored par on Hole 11 and tied McBeth. He then took the lead after the next hole by two strokes with a double bogey while McBeth scored an eight on the hole.
Brown’s moment with the lead came after Hole 15, but he lost it the next hole with a bogey. Brown later got bitten by Hole 17, throwing OB twice off the tee and later scored a six.
After the round, Brown was working to nail down Hole 17. He said for Saturday he wants to do a better job taking his time and sticking to his game plan no matter what happens.
Schusterick also had a share of the lead after hole 14 and then again on hole 16, but he also had trouble with Hole 17, scoring a double bogey. However, Schusterick rallied on Hole 18 with a birdie to be one back of McBeth.
Earlier in the day, the talk was about heavy storms on the way, but the Championship was spared anything major and most of the rain disappeared after a few hours.
McBeth said he’s going to focus hard on his game plan tomorrow.
“I’m going to live or die by my shots and not worry about what the others are doing unless it’s (Hole) 17 or 18. That’s the only time,” said McBeth.
