Vegas Gets Hot During Scorching Third Round at 3M Open, Leads Kuchar by One

BLAINE, Minn. - Firing his lowest round in nearly three seasons Saturday at TPC Twin Cities, an 8-under 63 moved Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas to the top of the leaderboard through three rounds of play at the 2024 3M Open.

In search of his first PGA Tour victory since 2017, Vegas will take a one-stroke lead over Matt Kuchar to Sunday's final round.

“Obviously, a lot of the effort is definitely paying back, which is what you always want to feel,” said Vegas, who last carded a 63 in 2021 during the final round of the Wyndham Championship. “Just kind of makes you feel like you're doing the right thing and you've just got to keep working hard.

“We know how hard it is to win out here. You can't really be thinking too much about winning, you've just got to be thinking about playing good golf. As boring as that might sound, you've just got to keep it as simple as possible.”

Entering the week ranked No. 149 on the FedEx Cup points list, Vegas is now projected to finish the week at No. 67, just inside the top-70 to qualify for the playoffs with one regular-season event left on the schedule.

“If the win comes, absolutely amazing, but at the end of the day, I just want to keep playing good golf and enjoy that part of the game,” he said.

Vegas opened with a 3-under 68 Thursday and bettered his score by two shots during Friday's second round.

Tallying back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth holes, Vegas moved to 10-under for the tournament.

On a steamy day at TPC Twin Cities, Vegas got even hotter during his back nine Saturday, rolling in four birdies over his first six holes to jump to 14-under.

Converting his birdie chance from inside of five feet at the par-3 17th, Vegas two-putted from 60 feet at the 18th for his eighth birdie of the day to take the 54-hole lead at 16-under 197.

Kuchar, whose most recent win came at the Sony Open in 2019, dazzled the galley on the 18th hole Saturday with a chip-in for eagle to post a 63 during his third round to sit one back of Vegas with one round to play.

“Put together a handful of good rounds, but no good weeks really,” said Kuchar, who has made seven cuts in 18 starts this season. “It's funny, starting the year I felt as good as I've felt about my game, my body, everything. I was so excited, and things didn't go quite right early on and just kind of cycled in a bad way.

“Golf's a funny thing. As pros we sometimes feel a long way away. This year has felt like a long way away for me, but I think if you can plug the right ingredient in, pros are never that far away from snapping back. Hopefully, we've kind of got the right ingredient in for this thing to maintain for another day, another week, another month, another year.”

The 46-year-old PGA Tour journeyman bounced back from an early double-bogey during his front nine with four consecutive birdies to turn in 3-under for the round.

Following a two-putt birdie at the par-5 12th, Kuchar rolled in his birdie look from 12 feet at the 15 to reach 12-under for the championship.

The former Georgia Tech golfer stuck his tee shot inside of two feet at the 17th for a birdie before chipping in at the final hole from 30 yards to shoot 63 and move into lone possession of second place, looking for the 10th victory of his career.

Kuchar has made the playoffs every season since 2007, a streak that's in jeopardy as he currently sits 155 on the points list and projected to move up to 88th. He's in the field at next week's Wyndham Championship.

Former Stanford University golfer Maverick McNealy also carded an 8-under 63 Saturday to move up 24 spots on the leaderboard and finish the first 54 holes in third place at 14-under 199.

The final round of the 2024 3M Open is scheduled to begin at 6:50 a.m. Sunday at TPC Twin Cities.



THE SIXTH 3M OPEN
TPC TWIN CITIES
BLAINE, MINN.
7,431 YARDS, PAR 71


SATURDAY'S THIRD ROUND RESULTS
1. Jhonattan Vegas, Venezuela, 68-66-63—197
2. Matt Kuchar, United States, 68-67-63—198
3. Maverick McNealy, United States, 70-66-63—199
T4. Patrick Fishburn, United States, 71-67-63—201
T4. Sahith Theegala, United States, 66-69-66—201
T6. Cam Davis, Australia, 68-69-65—202
6. Adam Svensson, Canada, 67-69-66—202
T6. Matthew NeSmith, United States, 68-64-70—202
T9. Matt Wallace, England, 71-68-64—203
T9. J.J. Spaun, United States, 70-68-65—203
T9. Taylor Pendrith, Canada, 66-64-73—203

MC. TOM HOGE, FARGO, N.D., 70-71—141
MC. TROY MERRITT, SPRING LAKE PARK, MINN., 72-71—143
MC. BEN WARIAN, STILLWATER, MINN., 69-74—143
MC. ERIK VAN ROOYEN, UNIV. OF MINN., 75-74—149
MC. JEFF SORENSON, BLAINE, MINN., 76-74—150

For complete tournament results go to: www.pgatour.com/leaderboard