AVONDALE, La. (AP) 鈥 Former BYU teammates Patrick Fishburn and Zach Blair shot a 12-under 60 in better-ball play Saturday to take the third-round lead in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the PGA Tour鈥檚 only team event.
At 23-under 193, Fishburn and Blair had a one-stroke lead over Luke List and Henrik Norlander, with the Irish duo of Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry 鈥 tied for the lead after each of the first two rounds 鈥 two strokes back.
Fishburn and Blair, both winless on the PGA Tour, have been playing golf together since their junior high school days in Ogden, Utah.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of why you鈥檙e out here playing is to have opportunities like this,鈥 Blair said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been out here a handful of years now, so I know that they don鈥檛 come that often, and so we鈥檒l do our best to go take advantage of it.鈥
Fishburn had three birdies and an eagle on the first five holes at windswept TPC Louisiana, where the wind gusted to 25 m.p.h. Windy conditions are also expected for Sunday for the alternate-shot finale.
List and Norlander had a 62. List eagled the second and 11th holes.
鈥淲e just got in a really good rhythm early,鈥 Norlander said. 鈥淚 felt like we were both hitting fairways. Not necessarily hitting it really close, but it felt like early we had two chances on every hole.鈥
McIlroy and Lowry shook off a slow start to birdie seven of their last 12 holes. They shot 64 to join Ryan Brehm and Mark Hubbard, who also had a 64, at 21 under. 春色直播s Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin 鈥 both of Abbotsford, B.C. 鈥 topped the group at 20 under.
Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., and teammate Tyler Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., are tied for 12th at 18 under.
鈥淟ook, it was a tough day,鈥 McIlroy said. 鈥淏irdies were a little harder to come by today than they were on Thursday in the better-ball format. I think today was about staying patient knowing that the course was going to present some opportunities, especially on that back nine.鈥
Fishburn and Blair were a stroke off the tournament record.
鈥淛ust kind of rode Fish all day,鈥 Blair said. 鈥淗e played good. I mean, it was pretty textbook out there for him.鈥
They made the turn in 7-under 29 and birdied five of the first six holes on the back nine before finishing with three pars.
鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty easy to hit shots when Zac is always in the fairway, always on the green,鈥 Fishburn said. 鈥淲e ham-and-egged it really good today.鈥
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AP golf:
