PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Davis Riley heard the cry of “Roll Tide” several times during the third round of the Valspar Championship and couldn’t help but smile. Some of them may have even been for the 25-year-old rookie out of Alabama.
The majority of them were for his older, better-known, and more successful playing competitor Justin Thomas, who once showed around young Riley on a recruiting visit. On this day, it was Riley who deserved the majority of the applause in this friendly third-round pairing as he birdied half the holes at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course. It included dunking a bunker shot at the ninth for birdie en route to a bogey-free 62 and a two-stroke lead over Matthew NeSmith.
“It was really impressive,” Thomas said. “It’s a big moment for a rookie and anybody, and he handled it like a rock star and made 9-under look very, very easy barring a crazy chip-in there on 9.”
