Daily Wrap-up: JT Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, Round 3

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Oct. 1, 2011
By Staff and Wire Reports

LAS VEGAS -- Nick Watney shot a 7-under 64 on Saturday for a share of the third-round lead with Kevin Na in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

Watney, a two-time winner this year, birdied the final three holes and five of the last six at TPC Summerlin to match Na at 17 under in the Fall Series opener. Na followed his second-round 63 with a 66.

"I'm trying to keep it really simple," Watney said. "I've driven the ball pretty well and it's just been fairly easy to hit quite a bit of greens. I think that's what you need to do out here is give yourself as many chances as possible. I've been able to do that so far.

"This course is right out there in front of you. It's fairly short for TOUR standards, so it's just about execution."

He won the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship in March and the AT&T National in July.

Robert Garrigus (63) and Kris Blanks (66) were a stroke back, and Tommy Gainey (64), Paul Goydos (66) and Tim Herron (67) followed at 15 under.

Na, tied for the lead with Jhonattan Vegas and Charlie Wi after the second round, played the front nine in 4 under with five birdies and a bogey, and added a birdie on the par-5 16th to reach 17 under.

"I got off to a really good start on the front nine, made five birdies," Na said. "I felt like I could go real low with a bunch of birdie holes on the back. Unfortunately, I slowed down a bit and missed a few short ones. But to finish 5-under for the day, I was pretty pleased."

Robert Garrigus had nine birdies and a bogey in his 63. Hospitalized for dehydration on Monday in Phoenix, Garrigus opened the round with four straight birdies, then birdied three of the last four.

"I started off on fire," he said. "It was just one of those days when everything was going in early, and I knew if I could sprinkle in some (birdies) late it would be a really good day, and it ended up being nice.

Vegas (69), Roland Thatcher (63), Spencer Levin (64) and Carl Pettersson (66) were 14 under.

The 36-hole cut came at 4-under 138, with 80 players advancing. Because more than 78 players made the cut, there was a secondary cut at 4-under 209 after the third round to the low 70 players and ties.

The 4-under cut tied for the lowest on the PGA TOUR this season with the Travelers Championship, John Deere Classic, Viking Classic and The Barclays.

Fran Quinn was the only player left on the course when play was suspended due to darkness Friday. He came back Saturday morning and made a 14-foot birdie putt for a 67 to make the cut. He shot a 76 in the third round to drop out of the tournament.

TPC Summerlin: Saturday
EASIEST HOLE TOUGHEST HOLE
The 9th hole was the easiest with a Saturday scoring average of 4.438.
EAGLES: 5 BIRDIES: 36 PARS: 38 BOGEYS: 1 OTHERS: 0
The 17th hole was the toughest with a Saturday scoring average of 3.175.
EAGLES: 0 BIRDIES: 9 PARS: 50
BOGEYS: 19 OTHERS: 2
About the leaders
• Las Vegas resident and World No. 11 Nick Watney, in search of his third victory of the season (WGC-Cadillac Championship, AT&T National), birdied five of his last six holes to post a 7-under 64 on Saturday to share the lead with Kevin Na with just 18 holes remaining at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. His 64 on Saturday fell one stroke shy of his best round at the event -- an opening-round 63 in 2008.
• Watney already owns a career-high nine top-10 finishes this season and sits No. 3 on the official money list. He recently finished a career-best ninth in the 2011 FedExCup standings.
• Watney is making his seventh start at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, with career-best, bookend T6 finishes in his inaugural start in 2005 and 2010. Last year, he recorded rounds of 66-66-67-66 to finish two strokes out of the Jonathan Byrd-Martin Laird-Cameron Percy playoff.
• Na made it to the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola in 2009 and 2010, but failed to advance this year. He finished No. 71 in the final FedExCup standings. After a 5-under 66 on Saturday, he'll enter the final round tied for the top spot with Nick Watney at 17-under.
• Na, who resides in Las Vegas, has three top 25s and a DQ in five previous starts at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He has shot par-or-better in all 21 rounds he has played in this event, with 16 of those rounds in the 60s.
• The 28-year-old has three runner-up finishes and no victories in 210 starts on TOUR.
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