NEW JERSEY: Cameron Smith (pix) fired the low round of the day Saturday with an 11-under 60 to vault up the leaderboard and into a tie for first with Spain's Jon Rahm at The Northern Trust in Jersey City, NJ.
Smith was a birdie putt away from shooting 59.
The Australian played bogey-free golf while carding 11 birdies to vault 24 spots up the leaderboard heading into Monday's final round.
The tournament was pushed back a day due to Hurricane Henri, which is expected to make landfall Sunday, east of Liberty National, site of the event.
Rahm fired a second consecutive 67 despite a double-bogey on the par-5 13th. He finished with seven birdies against a bogey on the 16th.
Erik van Rooyen of South Africa sits alone in third at 15 under after a scorching 62. He bogeyed his first hole before going on a tear, recording 10 birdies the rest of the round.
Justin Thomas (67) and Tony Finau (68) are tied for fourth two shots back at 14 under.
Norway’s Viktor Hovland (65), Tom Hoge (67) and Ireland’s Shane Lowry are within striking distance three shots back of the leaders, tied for sixth. Lowry also vaulted up the leaderboard on moving day, jumping 30 spots after shooting 62. He had an eagle on the par-5 sixth.
Harold Varner III (68) and Canada’s Corey Conners (62) sit in a tie for ninth at 12 under, four shots back.
Smith missed a 12-foot birdie try on No. 18 in his bid for a 59.
“I hit a pretty (good) putt, good speed and I mean, looking back at, it I don’t know how I read it to go that way but it is what it is,” Smith said.
Smith said he started thinking about 59 after his birdie on No. 14.
“I think I was 9-under then and yeah, just wanted to press on and wanted to see what I could do,” Smith said. “Obviously in a great spot, and the last – that last four or five holes here are pretty tough, so I knew it was going to be a big ask. But yeah, I played some really good golf coming in.”
Rahm remained positive despite ending up in the water on the double-bogey.
“But from that bad break, all I kept thinking was it’s a good swing, there’s plenty of birdie opportunities, let’s get it going,” Rahm said. “And then at the same time got two good breaks on the tee shots on 17 and 18. One of those two could have ended up in the bunker and they didn't and I ended up having an easy tap-in birdie and a really good look for birdie on 18. At the end of the day, things seemed to balance out.” – Field Level Media
