For the second day in a row, the 2024 Travelers Championship experienced a lengthy suspension of play as players were removed from the golf course due to bad weather at 3:30 p.m. ET only to return 2 hours and 50 minutes later. Leading off the golf course due to the delay, Tom Kim kept his wits on Saturday and walked off the 18th green with the lead for the third straight day.
With a 5-under 65 in Round 3, the 22-year-old sits at 18 under and one ahead of Scottie Scheffler and Akshay Bhatia heading into Sunday’s deciding round. A win at TPC River Highlands would represent the fourth (and certainly the biggest) of Kim’s young career, but he will have his work cut out for him with the number of stars lurking around.
After experiencing a somewhat sloppy restart with a pair of bogeys early in his inside half, Scheffler emerged late with five birdies on his final six holes to put his name back in contention at 17 under. Sharing a birthday, practice rounds and time off the golf course with Kim, the two will now share one final round of teeing together as they battle for the final title of the season’s signature event.
Scheffler rode the momentum of his playing partner, Bhatia, who kept pace and will complete that final trio on Sunday thanks to back-to-back birdies on Nos. 17 and 18. Meanwhile, Sungjae Im is looking for his first PGA Tour victory in more than two years from two adrift at 16 under and joins 2022 champion Xander Schauffele on that number thanks to a final 40-foot birdie effort.
In total, there are 10 players within five strokes of Kim’s lead after 54 holes with big hitters like Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Tony Finau, Shane Lowry, Patrick Cantlay and Mr. 59 himself, Cameron Young, all vying for one of the elders. trophies on the PGA Tour playing schedule.
Leader
1. Tom Kim (-18)
It took 40 holes, but Kim missed his first (and only) shot of this tournament when he three-pointed from 11 feet on the par-4 fourth. Things could have started moving quickly for the youngster, as names like Scheffler, Schauffele and Morikawa made their moves and knocked Kim out of the lead for the first time since Thursday. However, he held firm and played his final 14 holes in 6 under par to secure a one-stroke lead with one round remaining.
“I’ll go out tomorrow with the same game plan and try to do the things I’ve been doing and if it’s good enough, it’ll be great, but if someone is better than that, I can’t do anything about it.” So I go in with the expectation that there is a stacked leaderboard, a 5 or 6 stroke lead here is not a sure thing at all, so I have to go out tomorrow and make the same game plan and execute. “.
Other contenders
T2. Scottie Scheffler, Akshay Bhatia (-17)
T4. Xander Schauffele, Sungjae Im (-16)
6. Collin Morikawa (-15)
T7. Tony Finau, Shane Lowry, Justin Thomas (-14)
T10. Cameron Young, Patrick Cantlay (-13)
For a portion of the back nine, Scheffler seemed a little out of sorts as he dropped a shot on a short par 3 and missed a tee shot that led to another. Trailing by three at one point, the five-time winner this season put on his helmet and got to work. Five birdies over the course of his final six holes, including a laser on the tricky par-4 17th and another to take advantage of the distance on his putt, positioned the Texan beautifully for another sprint to the winner’s circle.
“Sometimes when they are in pairs, they can feed each other the right way or the wrong way,” Scheffler said. “Today, especially at the end, we fed off each other in what I would say the right way. It’s always a good thing.”
Cameron Young signs the round of the season
The former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year became the 13th player in PGA Tour history to play in a sub-60 round Saturday at TPC River Highlands. After playing his first four holes at 5 under, Cameron Young added a pair of birdies on his front nine to round out the 28th. A birdie on the 13th was followed by his second eagle of the round on the short par-4 15th. . He put a final circle on the scorecard for himself on the par-4 17th, meaning a par on the last was good enough for Young’s 59. Coming into the week, Young had racked up nine consecutive rounds of par or worse and coming into today, he wasn’t feeling particularly good about his chances either. That’s just golf.
“I woke up, I would have preferred to go back to sleep,” Young said. “I did exactly what I do every day: go to the golf course: have a coffee, eat, see the physiotherapist and go out to warm up. I didn’t feel particularly good. I did a little less exercise on the course than before. yesterday then “Yes, I went out and felt very comfortable and things started to get worse.”
Updated 2024 Travelers Championship Odds and Picks
- Scottie Scheffler: 3/2
- Tom Kim: 7/2
- Xander Schauffele: 5-1
- Akshay Bhatia: 7-1
- Sungjae Im: 12-1
- Collin Morikawa: 12-1
Kim has been the best player this week in all the right areas. She’s holing putts with consistency, splitting fairways and hitting approach shots close to her. She shouldn’t get carried away with the Scheffler pairing, as the two are good friends and she has plenty of horsepower to come up with a winning score that can reach 25 under par.
Patrick McDonald recaps moving day at the Travelers Championship 2024. Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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