Oct 20,2024
Doug Ghim and JT Poston shared the lead at the Shriners Children's Open in Las Vegas when play was halted due to darkness Saturday evening.
Seamus Power failed to make the cut after a second round 73 left him on one under, two shots outside the three-under-par cutline.
The west Waterford golfer will be left ruing a triple-bogey seven on the 15th hole, which effectively ended his weekend.
Power was two under for his round at the turn after three birdies and a bogey, but dropped shots at 12 and 17, plus the disastrous 15th put paid to his hopes.
The third round will conclude Sunday morning ahead of the fourth round.
"Just glad that we're going to be able to finish the tournament," Ghim said. "I'm sure everybody would've loved to have finished today. At the same time, it's not our first rodeo."
Ghim made a big move on Saturday, birdieing his final four holes at TPC Summerlin while going seven under par through 16 holes. That left him at 15 under par overall. Poston is two under through 13 holes to match Ghim at 15 under.
Kurt Kitayama and Gary Woodland each completed rounds of six-under 65 on Saturday, leaving them at 14 under. Also at 14 under are Harris English and Argentina's Alejandro Tosti, who are both four under through 14 holes in the third round.
South Korea's K.H. Lee is in the clubhouse at 13 under after a third-round 65. He is tied for seventh place with J.J. Spaun (five under through 17 holes), Davis Thompson (five under through 16), Norman Xiong (one under through 13), Canada's Taylor Pendrith (three under through 13) and Germany's Matti Schmid (even par through 13).
Ghim logged three birdies and nine pars before he got hot, reeling off birdies at the par-fiv 13th hole, the par-three 14th hole, the par-four 15th hole and the par-five 16th hole before play was stopped.
"Yeah, obviously a very gettable stretch, and it's been a lot nicer today, definitely a lot less wind in the afternoon for sure," Ghim said. "So, 13 playing downwind, 14 downwind, 15 downwind, 16 downwind -- you're going to have a lot of opportunities. It's definitely how you hope to play them, and just fortunate enough to get the looks and actually convert."
Poston parred every hole he played in the third round except for one, when he eagled the par-five ninth hole. He drove the green in two before rolling in a three-foot putt.
Earlier on Saturday, Poston completed the delayed second round by going birdie-eagle-birdie-par to leave him tied for the lead with Schmid. He tied for third in the event last year.
"I like this golf course," Poston said ahead of the start of the third round. "It sort of the fits my eye. The greens are bentgrass, what I grew up on. A lot of familiar stuff about this week that I enjoy."
His assessment of the course hadn't changed by the end of Saturday.
"Conditions will be pretty easy (Sunday)," Poston said. "I think you saw that with some of the scores; guys are making birdies. So I think it's just trying to stay aggressive but also stay patient if the putts don't fall early because there is a lot of holes left."
With 12 golfers still within two strokes of the lead, and a whopping 23 within four, Ghim also acknowledged he has a ton of work ahead of him.
"Probably maybe a little bit easier to get to play two holes before the fourth round," he said. "I think I also get to see how things shake out. I'm tied for the lead now. J.T. has got some easy gettable holes coming in. I'm assuming even if I make my par putt on 17 and maybe grab a birdie on 18, I'm sure he's going to be ahead. I'm assuming.
"Just got to keep playing well."
