HOUSTON – When comparing Saturday’s third round to the first two days at the 2022 Cadence Bank Houston Open, it’s hard to find many similarities.
Except a big one: the name at the top of the leaderboard.
Memorial Park Golf Course played much more difficult on moving day, thanks in large part to cooler temperatures and gusty winds. Players were faced with a difficult task of trying to find ways to score when there weren’t many to begin with.
Meanwhile, everyone who made the cut remains in pursuit of Tony Finau, who is in search of his fifth PGA Tour title.
Here are some takeaways from the third round of the Houston Open.
Finau in position for win No. 5
Coming into Saturday, Finau was in a good spot. With a four-shot lead and difficult conditions, he didn’t need to worry about going low or trying to expand his lead, he just needed to be in cruise control and continue his game.
And that’s exactly what he did.
Finau was in control from his opening tee shot. He was a master at work; automatic finding fairways, hardly missing greens, hitting solid putts. On a day there weren’t many under-par scores, Finau didn’t go chasing something that didn’t exist.
He’s well on his way to a fifth PGA Tour victory, shooting 2-under 68 in the third round. He had two birdies and no bogeys and didn’t really have many stressful moments. He has a four-shot lead with 18 holes to play.
First birdie of the day for the leader.@TonyFinauGolf extends his lead to 5 shots @HouOpenGolf. pic.twitter.com/i8keWzy4ZI
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 12, 2022
“That was a really good round,” Finau said. “My score doesn’t say it, but I think I played better than I did yesterday. That 68, I thought, was pretty impressive for the conditions.”
The only moment of the day that troubled Finau was an up-and-down from a greenside bunker on the 18th hole, but he sank the 10 foot par putt to remain bogey free.
“I hit the driver as good as I’ve ever hit it,” Finau said. “That was super important. I was able to knock in some birdies because of that.”
Who can possibly catch Tony?
In the event Finau comes back to the field, Ben Taylor is best positioned to give chase.
Taylor has never finished in the top 10 during his PGA Tour career, but there’s a good chance that changes Sunday. He shot a 5-under 66 on Saturday, the low round of the afternoon. He had six birdies and one bogey, which came on the 10th. He sits solo second at 11 under.
His final birdie, a 21-foot putt on the 18th hole, capped a career-low-tying round on Tour.
Ben Taylor caps off a strong round of 65 with a long range birdie make on 18! 💥
📺: @cnbc and @peacock pic.twitter.com/RLwxIzB14B
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) November 12, 2022
Although Finau has a big lead, Taylor isn’t backing down.
“Yeah, for sure. I mean, it’s when you get conditions like this, anything can happen, right,” Taylor said. “There’s some low scores out there today that would prove that, so I think we will be in for a good Sunday.”
Wyndham Clark, Justin Rose and Tyson Alexander are each at 8 under.
Mother Nature fights back
On TV and even at a glance, the weather couldn’t have looked more perfect during Saturday’s third round.
On the grounds, it wasn’t quite that nice.
The air was crisp in Houston, and combined with winds blowing 20 miles per hour and occasionally gusting to 35, it made for a chilly afternoon. The first two days, it was in the mid 80s in the afternoon with light winds from the south.
Those temperatures and winds made for higher scores, and those who were able to go low moved up the leaderboard quickly.
Justin Rose goes low
You’d have to go back to June at the RBC Canadian Open to find the last time Justin Rose finished inside the top 35 at a Tour event.
He missed the cut last week in Mexico in his first start of the season, but Rose posted the round of the day with a 4-under 66 on Saturday. He has shot under par every day this week and is at 8 under heading to Sunday in a tie for third.
“I was kind of excited about the pairing today playing with Aaron (Wise) and Scottie (Scheffler) out there,” Rose said. “Had some nice crowds following us. I feel like I’ve had some time off, so it’s the first time I’ve played in front of some people and some good energy for a while, so yeah, fed off that and it was nice to kind of knock a good score in.”
Rose went out in 4-under 31, making birdies on Nos. 2, 4, 7 and 8. He had one bogey on the par-5 16th but rebounded with a birdie at 17.
