China’s Dou Zecheng had seven birdies in his seven-under par 64 on Saturday to seize a share of the 54-hole lead within the US PGA Tour Byron Nelson match alongside Ryan Palmer and Austin Eckroat.
Dou, 26, seemed proper at dwelling on the par-71 TPC Craig Ranch course simply minutes away from the place he makes his US dwelling in suburban Dallas.
He and Eckroat high the leaderboard after 54 holes for the primary time of their PGA Tour careers as they chase a primary title, whereas Palmer claimed the newest of his 4 wins in 2019.
“I do feel some nerves already,” Dou admitted not lengthy after he capped his 64 with a two-putt birdie on the par-five 18th.
Eckroat had 10 birdies to beat a double-bogey in his eight-under 63 whereas Palmer joined the group on 16-under 199 along with his sixth birdie of the day on the par-five 18th
Palmer’s 35-foot eagle putt was headed for the center of the cup however stopped on the lip, giving him a three-under par 68.
The main trio had been two strokes in entrance of a quartet headlined by world quantity two Scottie Scheffler, who was joined by Australian Jason Day, Sweden’s Vincent Norrman and South Korean Kim Si-woo.
On a windy afternoon in north Texas, Dou obtained issues going with a 19-foot birdie on the second and added a 15-footer on the fifth, then blasted out of a bunker to a few toes for birdie on the sixth.
He drained a 20-foot birdie on the thirteenth, and obtained up and down for birdie at 14 and once more at 16 — the place he was in a cart path off the tee however gave himself a 28-foot birdie likelihood and made it.
Dou stored issues going with a chip to at least one foot to avoid wasting par on the par-three seventeenth.
Along the way in which, he mentioned, he tried to not pay an excessive amount of consideration to the leaderboard.
“I know I’m playing pretty good. I don’t want to have to know who’s in the lead, how much back I am to get in my head, and mess up shots,” mentioned Dou, who missed eight cuts in 17 prior begins this season.
Scheffler stumbles
Eckroat, a 24-year-old from Oklahoma, additionally anticipated to be feeling some nerves on Sunday.
“You put yourself in this position and you kind of feel like a win is the only way that it’s a successful week,” he mentioned. “But (I’ll) just go out tomorrow and try to play the best I can and see what happens.”
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When he walked off the 18th inexperienced, Eckroat had excessive expectations of enjoying within the ultimate group on Sunday alongside Scheffler.
But former Masters champion Scheffler, who held the in a single day lead, struggled on the greens and after two bogeys and three birdies was one off the lead by 17 holes.
At 18, he was in a fairway bunker off the tee and did not get the ball out along with his second shot on the way in which to a bogey for a fair par 71.
Norrman carded a 65, Day shot 66 and Kim signed for a 68.