Justin Lower’s rollercoaster ride of emotions continues.
The 33-year-old journeyman pro bogeyed two of his first seven holes but rallied with five birdies, including one at the last to sign for 3-under 69 at Silverado Resort’s North Course in Napa, California. It was good enough to improve to 13-under 203 and take a one-stroke lead over defending champ Max Homa and former Masters champ Danny Willett heading into the final round of the Fortinet Championship.
“It was tough out there today, it was a little breezy, greens getting firmer and firmer,” Lower said. “I just really just tried to keep it in the fairway and give myself as many birdie looks as possible.”
Some of those birdies even have come from off the green. Lower chipped in for birdie for the third time in three rounds at the fourth hole on Saturday.
Lower has taken one circuitous journey to his first final-round pairing on the PGA Tour. He attended Q-School six times, missed earning his card by a single shot in 2018, and needed to pitch to a foot from 30 yards to save par at the final hole at the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Indiana to secure his playing privileges for the first time. Lower still wasn’t sure if he’d done enough to earn the last card until his fellow pros and caddies showered him with beer and champagne. When he finally grabbed hold of his coveted PGA Tour card, Lower said, “It’s heavier than I thought it would be.”
His rookie season had more lows than highs, beginning with a missed cut in Napa at last season’s kick off event.
“I left this course last year kind of in shock, honestly. I was like, God, if this is how the Tour is, I need to get a lot better very quickly,” he recalled.
In August, at the Wyndham Championship, he needed to two putt from 61 feet at the final hole to make the FedEx Cup playoffs and keep his card. He took three putts and gave a teary-eyed interview afterwards.
One month ago, our hero Justin Lower thought a bogey at the last cost him his Tour card. His birdie at the last today gives him a one shot lead going into Sunday on the PGA Tour…there are no higher stakes anywhere in golf tomorrow. https://t.co/M7NiitvNzs
— Mark Baldwin (@markbaldwin1) September 18, 2022
But when six players defected to LIV Golf, Lower was granted exempt status for next season. So far, he’s taking advantage of it. He shot a career-best 63 on Thursday and has the 54-hole lead at a Tour event for the first time. He could crush his best Tour finish to date — a T-10 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the two-man team event — but there also are nine players within four shots of his lead.
“I’m sure I’ll be nervous, for sure, but just part of it,” Lower said. “I mean, it’s why we play. Yeah, it’s just, I don’t know, playing on the PGA Tour with a chance to win, it’s pretty cool.”
Fortinet: Leaderboard | Sunday tee times
1
Homa's putter cools off in pursuit of title defense
Max Homa loves putting on the poa annua greens of Silverado. They remind him of the greens he grew up playing as a kid in Southern California.
“Only these roll a lot better,” he said.
In the first two rounds, his putter was a force of good as he gained more than two strokes on the field each day. On Saturday? Not so much. He lipped out a four-foot birdie at No. 9 and lost more than two strokes on the greens, ranking 67th out of the 73 players who made the cut.
But Homa, who shot even-par 72 in the third round, is poised to defend his title.
“If I would have just putted half decent, shoot 3 under, I would think. But I’m proud of the way I kept swinging, I didn’t get too impatient and kept myself in the golf tournament,” he said.
2
Willett’s new secret weapons
Danny Willett admits he’s feeling “knackered,” having come across the pond from competing last week at the DP World Tour’s flagship event, the BMW Championship.
But as one of the players who got bumped to full status on the PGA Tour this season after six players defected to the LIV Golf Tour, Willett decided to strike while the iron is hot. He’s one-stroke back of Lower after shooting 72 on Saturday as he searches for his first PGA Tour title since the 2016 Masters.
“We kind of got handed that lifeline with the guys leaving, which was nice. Then yeah, kind of reassess things and decided we’d press on and play a little bit more this fall over here and really try and get some points up early,” he said.
This week, Willett made two other significant changes. He returned to the Odyssey Versa 1 putter he used when he won the 2016 Masters.
“Slightly shorter than it was back then, a few modifications, but yeah, I kind of when I got back from America I went to the studio at home in the U.K. and found a few of the old babies I liked and kind of we messed around with some lofts and lies and some shaft lengths and yeah, found one that kind of suits me,” Willett said.
He also hired noted performance coach Jason Goldsmith, who has helped Jason Day reach world No. 1 and Justin Rose win the men’s golf at the 2016 Olympics and 2018 FedEx Cup.
“It’s the first week,” Willett said. “Same kind of thing, just trying to get focused and it does feel like the stuff my game has been missing.”
Told that Goldmsith has had a Yoda-like effect on his clients, Willett laughed and said, “I’ll tell him you said that. He’s a tall Yoda.”
3
Birthday boy in contention
Ben An celebrated his 31st birthday on Saturday by shooting 1-under 71. It could’ve been better had he not struggled on the par 5s — OB at the fifth and made bogey and carded a double bogey at 16.
How will An celebrate another trip around the sun?
“I don’t really want to go out and celebrate a dinner, but we’ll definitely have one when I go back home to Orlando, that’s for sure,” he said. “This week my son’s with my mom thankfully, so my wife was able to come all the way here and stay with me for my birthday. That’s all you need, right? Dinner with your wife, your family.”
An and his wife are expecting their second child in March.
Family love ❤️
Jamie An, Janise Lower and Lacey Homa all have husbands atop the leaderboard and babies on the way. pic.twitter.com/3hs7D7esM4
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 17, 2022
An, who was exiled to the Korn Ferry Tour last season, is making his 150th PGA Tour start and despite having won on the DP World Tour still is seeking his first Tour title. What does he think it will take to break into the winner’s circle at last?
“Just keep believing in myself,” said An, who’ll enter the final round trailing by two strokes in fourth place. “I don’t need to do any different. I feel I have the game. My team, we always say if you just play like the way you do and some putts drop, get a lucky bounce, you’ll win it. Like I say, it’s only the first week of the new season, but I’m going to do the same thing I’ve been doing the last couple months and hopefully everything clicks at once and get the win. Like I said, it’s the first week this season, I’m not in a rush or anything, but it would be nice to start off with a win, definitely.”
4
Endycott rises
Australian Harrison Endycott, 26, made birdie on his final hole on Friday to make the cut on the number, then went out on Saturday in the first group as a single and posted 7-under 65 to climb into contention in his PGA Tour debut.
Endycott survived cracking his driver on Friday.
“It sounded funny when I hit it, my second driver of the day. The ball kind of dipped low on me and it felt like a pretty good swing. Tour pros know when you put a good swing on it or not and it felt pretty good. The ball went weird, and I looked down and there was a nice big cut right through the center of my driver head.”
Endycott took advantage of easier morning conditions to make seven birdies on the day and improve to 9 under and tied for ninth.
“It was awesome,” he said of the course conditions. “You’ve got no one to worry about and the greens were perfect.”
5
Weather warning
After sunshine blessed wine country during the first two rounds of the Fortinet Championship, Saturday featured cooler temps and windier conditions that dried out the greens. But Sunday’s final round forecast is calling for the wet stuff. As a result, in an effort to beat the weather, tee times have been move up to between 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET.
“You get to go right away, I guess,” Lower said of the shorter wait until his tee time. “Either way. I mean, I would honestly like it the traditional way, just twos and late and everything, but it’s whatever. At least it’s not 54 holes.”
Homa won earlier this year at the Wells Fargo Championship despite inclement condition. Could that bode well for him again?
“I’m from southern California,” he said. “I don’t know why I play well in the rain, but I do. So I’m just going to try and do that again tomorrow.”
