Players Amateur: Chase Koepka takes two-shot lead into final round
Chase Koepka
BLUFFTON, S.C. — High temperatures did not prevent low scores during the third round of the 16th annual Players Amateur at the Berkeley Hall Golf Club in Bluffton.
University of South Florida senior Chase Koepka started Saturday’s round in second place but finished at 7-under to take the lead with a three round total of 12-under.
“I don’t think the greens were as fast today,” he said after his round. “The pins were in spots where you had to hit a really good golf shot and it would end up close.”
Kopeka will go into the final round concentrating on his short game.
“I have been hitting the ball great this whole week, the only thing, I just really haven’t made too many putts outside 10 feet, which I am probably going to have to do tomorrow," he said.
Dallas, Texas resident Scottie Scheffler finished two stokes behind Koepka. He shot 8-under on Saturday for a three-day total of 10-under par.
Shotaro Ban birdied the first three holes Saturday morning. He credits that great opening to jump starting his day.
“That round was special because I was not hitting the ball well at all, so I really just managed my game really well," Ban said.
He finished the day at 8-under for a 9-under tournament total. The UC-Berkeley Senior is going into the final round in the third place position.
All three leaders had bogey-free third rounds.
The final round begins tomorrow at 7:00 am, the leaders tee of off at 10 am.The public is welcome to attend and admission is free.
ABOUT THE Players Amateur
While competing in the 1999 US Amateur
Championship at Pebble Beach, former US
Walker Cup
Team members, Duke Delcher and Tom
McKnight
discussed the formation of a premier 72-hole
stroke
play amateur golf tournament. The inaugural
Players
Amateur was held the next summer. Former
British
Open Champion, Ben Curtis, was the winner of
the
2000 event. In 2004, the Heritage Classic
Foundation
began running the event. The Heritage Classic
Foundation was formed in 1987 as a 501 (c) (3),
not-
for-profit organization, it serves as the
operational
and financial oversight group for the PGA Tour
RBC
Heritage Classic. The Foundation distributes all
charitable funds generated from the tournaments
to
charity. The winner of The Players Amateur gets
an
exemption into the PGA Tour RBC Heritage
Classic, as
well as the Master of the Amateurs tournament
in
Melbourne, Australia.
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