BRAINERD, Minn. – Finishing his second round with a scoring frenzy Friday, American Jake Knapp carried his strong play into Saturday’s third round by firing a 9-under 61 Saturday at Cragun’s Legacy Courses to take the 54-hole lead at the 2022 CRMC Championship.
Knapp played his final three holes in a combined 5-under, including an ace at the 17th Friday, and would card back-to-back birdies to begin the third round Saturday.
An eagle and five birdies over his last 13 holes gave the 28-year-old Californian a one-stroke lead over Trent Phillips with 18 holes to play.
“Momentum is huge—seeing putts go in and having a few bounces go your way definitely makes a difference," Knapp said Saturday. "I wasn’t thinking about the finish yesterday when I started this morning, but when I finished after nine and totaled them up, I realized it was a 29. I said, ‘Sounds good, let’s go see if we can go do something on the back.’
“When you’re playing well, everything feels much easier.”
Quickly moving to 13-under with his back-to-back birdies to begin the round Saturday, Knapp got hot once again by rolling in four consecutive birdies to close out his front nine in 17-under for the championship.
He carded six consecutive pars to begin his back nine Saturday before tallying his fifth eagle of the week at the 16th. A birdie at the last gave Knapp the outright lead at 20-under 190.
“[No. 16] was definitely the shot of the day,” said Knapp, who has played holes 16-18 at 12-under through his first three rounds this week. “I ended up with a perfect cut 2-iron number, just had to keep it low under some branches and hit a good shot. Landed middle of the green and rolled back to 15 or 20 feet and finally got a putt to drop.
“I had a lot of pars there for a while, so it was nice to see one go in.”
Knapp earned a runner-up finish at the first event of the season at the Royal Beach Victoria Open in June. He notched his second top-3 finish at the Quebec Open earlier this month.
A win this week would elevate Knapp nine spots up the Fortinet Cup rankings into the lead.
Beginning the day six shots off the lead Saturday, Phillips narrowed the deficit in a hurry by rolling in five birdies over his first seven holes to reach 16-under for the championship.
He converted an early birdie during his inward nine, but finished strong with back-to-back birdies at the 17th and 18th to take sole possession of second place, one shot off Knapp’s lead.
“Coming in yesterday, I kind of slowed down and made a bunch of pars. I wanted to get off to fast start today and it always makes the round a little easier when you can get going early,” Phillips said following his round Saturday.
“I know I have to go shoot another seven or 8-under [tomorrow]. These guys aren’t going to shoot par, so I have to go out and shoot a low number and hopefully get it done.”
Alexander Herrmann, the 36-hole leader thanks to rounds of 61 and 62, respectively, struggled during the third round Saturday, posting a 1-under 69 to fall two shots off the lead.
Playing his opening nine in 2-under, Herrmann reached 20-under with a 25-footer for birdie at the 10th, but would stumble down the stretch Saturday, posting back-to-back bogeys at the 12th and 13th and would need a par from six feet to drop to save his fourth consecutive round below par.
Herrmann starts the final round tied for third with Conner Godsey, who carded a second consecutive round of 65 Saturday.
Former University of Minnesota golfer Angus Flanagan leads the list of local golfers in the field this week, carding a 1-under 69 during Saturday’s third round. He will begin the final day tied for 38th at 9-under 201.
The final round of the 2022 CRMC Championship will begin at 7:20 a.m. Sunday at Cragun’s Legacy Courses at Cragun’s Resort.
THE 2022 CRMC CHAMPIONSHIP
CRAGUN’S LEGACY COURSES
BRAINERD, MINN.
7,123 YARDS, PAR 70
SATURDAY’S THIRD ROUND RESULTS
1. Jake Knapp, United States, 64-65-61—190
2. Trent Phillips, United States, 68-61-62—191
T3. Conner Godsey, United States, 62-65-65—192
T3. Alexander Herrmann, Germany, 61-62-69—192
5. Ryan Gerard, United States, 65-63-65—193
6. Wil Bateman, Canada, 63-65-66—194
T7. Myles Creighton, Canada, 65-68-62—195
T7. Kieran Vincent, South Africa, 67-65-63—195
T7. Brett White, United States, 63-68-64—195
T7. Wocheng Ye, China, 64-66-65—195
T7. Gavin Hall, United States, 63-64-68—195
T7. Thomas Walsh, United States, 63-64-68—195
T7. Joe Highsmith, United States, 63-63-69—195
T38. ANGUS FLANAGAN, ENGLAND, 66-66-69—201
T42. JUSTIN DOEDEN, UNITED STATES, 69-65-68—202
T63. THOMAS LEHMAN, UNITED STATES, 68-66-72—206
For complete tournament results go to: www.pgatour.com/canada/en_us/leaderboard.html
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