Joel Dahmen held his own playing in the final group for the first time, and wound up in a three-way tie for the lead with Jason Dufner and Max Homa on a stormy Saturday at the Wells Fargo Championship.
Very much in the mix was Rory McIlroy, who carded a 3-under 68 on his 30th birthday and was two shots behind.
Storms moved in sooner than expected and caused two delays, each lasting a little more than an hour and made a firm Quail Hollow play slightly softer.
Dahmen and Homa each dropped a shot over the last three holes for a 70. They were tied for the lead when Dahmen’s approach to the 16th was left of the green and came close to the water. He missed a 12-foot par attempt. Homa pushed his drive to the right on the 18th and was blocked by trees, played his second across the creek into the gallery and missed a 10-foot par putt.
Dufner, the former PGA champion, atoned for back-to-back bogeys after the first storm delay with two straight birdies, and he gave himself chances down the stretch. He wound up with a 71.
They were at 11-under 202.
Pat Perez had a bogey-free 66 and was one shot behind. Six players were separated by three shots going into the final round, a group that includes Justin Rose, who bogeyed the 18th hole from a poor tee shot and shot 68.
With two players going for their first win, and Dufner still trying to emerge from a slump, McIlroy liked his position two shots behind. He heard ‘Happy Birthday’ at every turn, made his first birdie as a 30-year-old on the par-5 seventh hole and looked ready to make a move when he hit from a loose divot on the 12th fairway to just outside 10 feet.
That’s when the second horn sounded to stop play. McIlroy returned and ran his birdie putt 5 feet by the hole, missed the next one and lost ground with a bogey. That was his last mistake. He picked up birdies on the reachable 14th and the par-5 15th and is poised to join Tom Weiskopf as the only three-time winners at Quail Hollow. Weiskopf won the old Kemper Open three times on this course before the tournament moved to Washington.
‘This golf course really rewards patience and rewards discipline,’ McIlroy said.
‘And I feel like I was both of those today.’
The top of the leaderboard looked similar to when the round started, except that McIlroy and Perez are a lot closer, and they all have a lot more company.
Paul Casey made 15 pars and still managed to make up five shots on the lead, courtesy of a pair of eagles and one birdie. He was four shots back at 7-under 206, along with Seamus Power (69).
Another shot behind was a group that include Sergio Garcia, who shot 30 on the front nine in the morning on his way to a 65, and Rickie Fowler, who had a 66. Fowler won his first PGA TOUR title at Quail Hollow in 2012.
As the lone South African, Dylan Frittelli would be wondering how he didn’t move higher than into a share of 28th. The rookie birdied the 10th and then made four in a row from the 12th, but finished with a 70.
Frittelli tapped in on the 10th after his third from 99 yards to kick-in range, with his next birdie coming from 12 feet. The 215-yard par-3 13th didn’t scare him as he left himself six feet before converting from 23 foot despite an approach from the rough on 14.
A two-putt birdie on the par-5 15th helped add further shine before his late stumble.
Bogeys at the third and ninth – a three-putt – forced the Texas-educated star into pushing the tempo, and then just when his back nine had come together, he coughed up two more shots as he failed to get up and down from the sand on 16, and then missed a seven-footer for par on the last.
Photo: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
