Finau and Pendrith break away from the field after third round of Rocket Mortgage Classic

By Sports Desk July 30, 2022

Tony Finau posted the equal-best score from the third round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic on Saturday, with his seven-under 65 pulling him even with Taylor Pendrith after entering the day one stroke off the pace.

Finau and Pendrith were co-leaders after the first round, and after building a multi-stroke buffer from the rest of the field after 36 holes, they added to it again to finish at 21 under – four strokes clear of Cameron Young in third-place.

Each player showed a different skill set, with Pendrith displaying a strong feel in his ability to finish holes – posting the seventh-best strokes gained figure from Data Golf on approach shots (2,07 strokes gained) and the 11th-best with the putter (1.98).

Finau, on the other hand, shined with his driver, finishing second in strokes gained off the tee (1.98) and third in tee-to-green (3.97) while being just average around the greens.

After winning this past weekend's 3M Championship, Finau now has a chance to win back-to-back PGA Tour events for the first time in his career, while Pendrith is hunting his first PGA Tour victory.

Young was one of five players to match Finau's 65, and he sits alone in third at 17 under, with Germany's Stephan Jaeger in fourth at 16 under, and Patrick Cantlay rounds out the top-five as the only player at 15 under.

Scott Stallings is alone at 14 under, with South Korea's Kim Si-woo and Canada's Adam Svensson in the groups at 13 under and 12 under respectively to complete the top-10.

Reigning champion of this event Cam Davis also shot 65 to fly up the leaderboard, tied for 16th at 10 under after finishing his second round right on the cut-line of three under.

It was the opposite story for compatriot Adam Scott, who entered the day in a strong position at nine under and proceeded to shoot a 78, finishing as by far the worst putter on Saturday, losing 5.62 strokes on the greens.

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