Lee Hodges heads into Saturday’s third round of the PGA Tour’s 3M Open with a four-stroke lead after shooting an impressive seven-under-par 64 in Blaine, Minnesota on Friday.
A two-hour rain delay meant that play was suspended at TPC Twin Cities due to darkness, with 11 players still on the course, but none of those still to finish their rounds were within 10 shots of the lead after Hodges birdied four of his final six holes.
Tyler Duncan is nearest to Hodges, on 11 under after his bogey-free 67, while Kevin Streelman, JT Poston, defending champion Tony Finau and Brandt Snedeker are all five shots behind Hodges.
South Africans MJ Daffue and Garrick Higgo are both five over (T33) after rounds of 69.
Overnight leader Hodges was two under for the day when play was suspended, and returned to drain a 25-foot birdie putt at the ninth hole to seize the solo lead.
He then produced an immaculate back nine with back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14 and ended in style with a birdie on the par-three 17th and then the par-five 18th.
Lee Hodges can’t miss ?
He owns the solo lead at 12-under after his 4th birdie of the day @3MOpen. pic.twitter.com/1qKPGTCxmX
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 29, 2023
Hodges, chasing a first PGA Tour title, is 74th in the FedExCup standings, with the top 70 heading into the playoffs next month.
“I know where I’m at, but trying harder or changing what I’m doing is not going to make me play better or anything like that. I’m just going to keep doing what I’ve been doing and see how it turns out,” said the 28-year-old from Alabama.
“With my caddie … we’ve committed to every shot we’ve hit so far, which has been great. We’ll continue to do it, because what do we have to lose?” he added.
Streelman and Poston shared the clubhouse lead at 10 under when the storm rolled through.
Streelman had three birdies without a bogey after adjusting to the changed course conditions on Friday morning.
“I didn’t make a ton of putts, but kind of did what I was supposed to,” he said. “The greens were running beautifully today, much faster than yesterday. We all jammed our first putts pretty far past the hole so that took some on-course adjusting.”
Poston carded his second straight 66, rolling in five birdies without a bogey.
Finau had to wait out the delay, but had four of his eight birdies on the back nine as he also carded a second straight 66.
Former world No 1 Justin Thomas, who added the event to his schedule as he battles to make the season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs, carded an even-par 71 that left him looking at a missed cut.
Thomas’s six birdies included four in his last five holes, but he had two double-bogeys, including finding the water twice at the par-five 18th, his ninth hole of the day.
That left him at two under, two short of the projected cut.
© Agence France-Presse
