Ben Griffin maintains his lead after the third round of the Napa Valley Championship. He had a big late stumble on the 72nd hole but held on to win by one. He closed in style, too, with an impressive 2-under 70 to end the day. That score was enough to maintain a slim one-shot advantage over second-place Jackson Koivun and two shots over third-place Scottie Scheffler.
Griffin’s total score stands at 17-under 199, with Koivun sitting at 16-under 200 after an impressive performance throughout the tournament. Scheffler, whose awesome 8-under 64 on Saturday was the best score of the day, is lurking just three shots back at 15-under 201.
Griffin, who made a bit of history over the week with his strong play, suffered his first bogey on the last hole of the tournament. Earlier in the round, he demonstrated solid consistency, missing only two greens and committing just a single significant mistake on the 14th hole.
He’s really proved a lot out here on tour, being that he’s still in college, Griffin said, which speaks to Koivun’s dominant season as the No. 1 ranked player in the world amateur rankings. Koivun, who has already secured a PGA Tour card for when he turns professional, showed resilience after an inconsistent start to his round.
“Didn’t have a great start, not the start I was looking for, but was able to kind of turn it around midway through the round, make some birdies, make some putts, kind of flip the script and keep myself in contention,” Koivun explained.
As the final round draws near, Griffin is more concerned with staying out in front and doing his own thing than anything else.
He said, “I just have to worry about myself and play aggressive. Tomorrow, I’m just going to try to make a ton of birdies and not think about what other people are doing.”
Scheffler’s performance has been notable as well. Look how far the current No. 1 player in golf came back from making an early mistake! He carded three birdies on his final four holes. “If I go out and play good, consistent golf, I’m going to start moving my way up the leaderboard and that was the goal going into today,” Scheffler said, emphasizing his determination to challenge for the title.
Griffin knows how competitive the field can be and was confident in his skills. “Not too worried about what he’s going to do. I’ve just got to play better than him,” he remarked about his competitors.
Leave a Reply