Australian Jason Day had a disastrous third round while Keegan Bradley shot a 3-under-par 67 Saturday to claim the lead at the cold and rainy Wells Fargo Championship in Potomac, Md.
Bradley sits at 8-under 202 after three rounds to take a two-shot lead into Sunday’s final round at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. Max Homa is Bradley’s immediate threat, two shots back at 6-under. Homa shot 71 for his round.
Day, who led after each of the first two rounds, struggled through a 79 Saturday to fall 12 spots in a tie for 13th at 1-under for the tournament.
Anirban Lahiri of India (70) and James Hahn (72) are T4 at 4-under, four shots back.
Temperatures dropped into the 40s on Saturday as nearly two inches of rain have fallen since Friday.
Bradley got off to a rough start, pairing two bogeys with two birdies on the front nine. But he settled in with three birdies coming in, and was one of only four players to shoot in the 60s on Saturday.
“When the conditions get like this, I find a sense of calm just because I’m sort of worried about other things, keeping my clubs dry and my bag dry. Sort of keeps me in the present,” Bradley said. “I did that today and I just had a great time with my caddie, Scotty, we just — we’re a good team and we did a lot of good things today.”
The scoring average Saturday was 73.7, with Day helping to inflate that number.
Day went bogey, triple-bogey, bogey on Nos. 3-5 on a day that would see him card five bogeys overall. He settled for one birdie and also had a double-bogey on #10.
“Unfortunately, I just didn’t have my stuff today,” Day said. “Just trying to think. I made a lot of errors out there and hitting into penalty areas. It’s OK. I’ve just got to get back to it tomorrow and try and find some positives from the first two days going into tomorrow’s round.”
The field average of 3.662-over par is the highest in any round on tour since the final round of the 2020 U.S. Open.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy was one of those four players in the 60s, carding 68 to vault 44 spots up the leaderboard. He sits tied for sixth at 2-under.
“It was a really, really good — it was a really, really good day,” McIlroy said. “I felt like I could have been a couple lower, I hit the ball great on the front nine there and just didn’t convert any of the chances that I gave myself. But overall I can’t be too disappointed, 2 under out there was a very good score.”
Bradley, a four-time PGA Tour winner, is in the lead (or co-lead) after 54 holes for just the fourth time in his career. He is 0-for-3 so far, and will try to change that trend Sunday.