Trace Crowe maintained his narrow lead at the Austin Championship in Texas on Saturday, inching closer to his first PGA Tour win.
The 30-year-old Crowe shot a 1-under-par 71 to get to 14 under for the tournament, which kept him one shot ahead of the field.
Needing to finish his final two holes from Round 2 to begin his day, Crowe went par-par to preserve his 3-under round, which came on the heels of a career-low 62 in Round 1.
Crowe had a more up-and-down Round 3 at the Fazio Canyons Course at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa, with six birdies and five bogeys.
The inaugural Austin Championship is the penultimate event of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Fall series. Players in the top 100 of the points race at the end of the fall will retain full-time tour status, and Nos. 101-125 will receive conditional status for 2027.
Crowe entered the week at No. 117 in the fall standings and the live projection showed he would jump to No. 63 with a win.
His closest competition through three rounds is the trio of Chad Ramey (67), Finland’s Sami Valimaki (69) and South Africa’s Erik van Rooyen (69), all tied for second at 13 under.
Max Greyserman and Ben Kohles are tied for fifth at 12 under following matching 69s.
Eight players are at 11 under: Zac Blair (67), Austin Smotherman (67), Will Gordon (66), John VanDerLaan (69), Tommy Morrison (69), Rafael Campos (70), Norway’s Kristoffer Ventura (72) and Kevin Yu (73).
–Field Level Media
