American Gary Woodland fired six birdies and an eagle Saturday to seize a seven-point lead under the modified stableford scoring system at the US PGA Tour’s Reno-Tahoe Open.
Woodland, who suffered a lone bogey, finished with 16 points in the third round to stand on 37 points after 54 holes under the scoring method that awards eight points for double eagle, five for eagle, two for birdie, zero for par, minus-one for bogey and minus-three for double bogey or worse.
Fellow American Brendan Steele was second on 30 points after a 17-point round that closed with five birdies in a row followed by a chip-in eagle at the 18th hole.
“It was definitely the best finish that I could ever even imagine. So pretty special,” Steele said.
Struggling to retain his tour card, Stuart Appleby was the leading Australian in a tie for 12th on 21 points.
A birdie-birdie finish put American David Mathis in third on 29 points, two ahead of Argentina’s Andres Romero and four ahead of South Korea’s Charlie Wi.
The winner takes home a $US540,000 top prize and, if not already qualified, a berth in the year’s final major tournament, next week’s US PGA Championship at Oak Hill.
Woodland has not won a PGA title since the 2011 Tampa Bay Championship. Steele collected his only PGA title at the 2011 Texas Open.