Doug Barron carded the low round of the day with a 6-under 66 on Saturday to grab a share of the lead after three rounds of action at the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Ala.
After settling for a bogey at the par-4 third, Barron put together a clean performance, tallying six birdies across his final 15 holes to finish with seven for his round. He now sits at 13-under 203 for the tournament, tied with South Africa’s Ernie Els (70 on Saturday).
“I played really well,” Barron said. “The wind didn’t blow as hard today and my sister actually drove in town. I have twin sisters and one of them decided to come hang out with me this weekend, so that was cool.”
Three others are within two shots of the lead, including Steve Stricker, a three-time champion at the Regions, but Barron is only worried about how his performance come Sunday’s fourth and final round.
“I’m just gonna go out and do the best Doug Barron can do. I know what I can shoot. I can’t control all those other superstars,” Barron said. “So I’ll just do the best I can do. So I’m feeling good about my game, though. I will say that.”
Els quickly picked up an eagle at the par-5 second, but he also had two bogeys on the front nine and had to fight through adversity throughout his entire round.
“It was a tough day,” Els said. “I’m really finding it tough to read some of these putts. I made a soft bogey on five and it really set me back. You know, terrible tee shot on eight, almost unplayable. I made five there, I kind of scrambled it around.
“I feel like I’m still playing pretty well. I had a couple of mud balls, so that veered off target a little bit, but hey, it’s all to play for (Sunday) and I’m in a good position.”
Irishman Padraig Harrington sits third, one stroke behind Barron and Els. He posted a 3-under 69 on Saturday.
Stricker (73) went into the third round with a one-shot lead, but he fell into a tie for fourth with Charlie Wi of South Korea (70). Stricker is looking to win the event for the third year in a row, and he also prevailed in 2019.
South Korean K.J. Choi (69) and Kenny Perry (71) are T6, Stewart Cink (70) and Steve Flesch (74) are T8 and Shane Bertsch (70), Australia’s Stuart Appleby (71) and Bernhard Langer of Germany (71) are tied for 10th, six shots back.
–Field Level Media
