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Check out what has been happening in Utah Golf.
State Am Champs Doing Well at First Stage of FedEx Playoffs
Zac Blair shot a 67 and made a significant move up the leaderboard to 11th place at the The Barclay’s Fed Ex playoff series Saturday. His fellow Utah State Am champions Tony Finau and Daniel Summerhays will go into the final round in 14th place. Finau started the third round in the lofty perch of second place, but shot a one over par 71 to drop out of the top ten and pretty much take him out of contention for the title. Summerhays shot 68 to catch up with Finau.
Blair’s three under par 67 scooted him up to a tie for 11th place and that puts him good position for a high finish in this first of four FedEx Cup playoff events.
Only the top 129 players advanced to this first FedEx playoff event and Blair ranked 106th in the standings. Only 100 players will advance to the next FedEx event and Blair needs to earn enough points at the Barclays to get in the top 100. While the major focus is always on the leaders, those who are near the cut lines are playing under the greater stress. Blair’s 67 was a gutsy performance and another good showing Sunday will assure him of advancing to the next stage.
Summerhays began this event in 66th place and so he needed a good round to hold position and his 68 puts him solid position to advance to the second stage and keeps the third stage within reach.
Finau went into Barclays with a 39th place standing in the FedEx points and so his position was pretty solid, but his one over par 71 third round, especially while playing in the spotlight, was disappointing to him. Finau was paired with British Open champion Zach Johnson who shot a 67 and remains very much in contention for the Barclays title.
Other highlights of the tournament included a 62 by Carlos Ortiz and Jordan Spieth missing the cut on rounds of 74-73.
The tournament is being broadcast on KUTV Channel Two.
The Barclays leaderboard going into final round:
199- Sangmoon Bae, 69-67-63
199- Jason Day, 68-68-63
200- Bubba Watson, 65-68-67
201- Ryan Palmer, 69-67-65
201- Zach Johnson, 69-65-67
201- Henrik Stenson, 68-66-67
203- Carlos Ortiz, 73-68-62
203- Kevin Kisner, 67-71-65
203- Spencer Levin, 65-71-67
203- Jason Dufner, 66-68-69
204- Zac Blair, 69-68-67
204- Bryce Molder, 66-71-67
205- Tony Finau, 65-69-71
205- Daniel Summerhays, 67-70-68
205- Carmen Villegos, 65-70-70
205- Justin Rose, 77-65-63
205- Kevin Na, 69-69-67
205- Hideki Matsuyama, 69-69-67