Jonas Blixt of Sweden and Cameron Smith of Australia extended their bogey-free run to three rounds in the new team format at the Zurich Classic, posting a four-under 68 to widen their lead to four strokes.
Alternating shots on Saturday, as teams did in the first round, the Blixt-Cameron partnership (pictured) posted four birdies to improve to 19-under, building on a lead that stood at one shot through two rounds. They are the only team without a bogey.
The Kevin Kisner-Scott Brown and Nick Watney-Charley Hoffman teams were tied for second. Also in contention are Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer, five shots behind – although they could have been several shots closer if not for some uncharacteristic misses of short putts by both players.
Spieth missed a three-footer for birdie on the par-five 18th, wasting Palmer’s well-executed 86-yard approach shot. Throughout the round, Spieth was among players backing away from shots when they sensed a gust building and said the wind affected putting ‘significantly’.
‘When you get a putt where the wind is blowing one way and you’ve got the grain the other, and the hill back with the wind, you just have no idea what that putt is going to do,’ Spieth said. ‘If it gusts or doesn’t gust when you’re over it, it affects the putt by an entire cup, even from six or seven feet. It’s really a guessing game.’
In Sunday’s final round the format will return to ‘best ball’, as in the second round, with each two-man team taking the best score of either player per hole.
Blixt and Smith didn’t fail to execute many shots on the 7 425-yard TPC Louisiana course, which was carved out of cypress swamp and has a number of water hazards from where alligators took in the action, some climbing on to the course at the water’s edge.
Brian Stuard, who won the Zurich last year when it was a traditional stroke-play event and teammate Chris Stroud were alone in fifth at 13-under.
The teams of Kelly Kraft and Kevin Tway, and Angel Cabrera and Julian Etulian, were tied for sixth at 12-under.
Seven teams were tied for eighth at 11-under, including popular Gulf Coast native Bubba Watson and teammate J.B. Holmes. Also on 11-under, in a tie for eighth position, were South Africa’s Tyrone van Aswegen and Retief Goosen, who added a 72 to their card after earlier rounds of 73 and 60.
Image: Getty Images
