Crowe salvages round with two late birdies, leads Austin Championship

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Trace Crowe capped off a roller-coaster round in cool, blustery conditions by holing a bunker shot for birdie and closing with a tough up-and-down for birdie that savaged a 1-under 71 on Saturday to give him a one-shot lead going into the final round of the inaugural Austin Championship.

At stake for Crowe is a chance to win for the first time on the PGA Tour, which comes with a spot on the elite Championship Series in 2028 with $20 million purses. But there’s one more day on the hilly Omni Barton Creek course with more wind in the forecast.

There were also 13 players within three shots of the lead, nine of whom have never won on tour.

“I’ve been doing this long enough to know that everyone’s really good and they’re just going to keep making birdies,” Crowe said. “My mindset tomorrow is to go attack the day and see what it gives, but just try to play the best I can and hopefully I’ll come out on top.”

Crowe’s birdie-birdie finish put him at 14-under, one shot ahead of Erik van Rooyen (69), Sami Valimaki (69) and Chad Ramey (67). They were tied for the lead until Crowe’s big finish.

The wind was in his face on the 219-yard, par-3 17th, and he hit a 4-iron as low as he could. He was fine with it landing in the bunker, especially with such a clean lie.

“It was just sitting uphill, and it just came out perfect and went in,” Crowe said. “Me and my caddie both, we had a feeling I was going to make that.”

He had to chip off a hard-pan lie left the of the green on the par-5 18th and clipped it almost too perfectly, leaving him an eight-footer he made to cap off his round.

Max Greyserman and Ben Kohles each shot 69 and were two shots behind, and eight players were another shot back. That group included Austin Smotherman, who can become the first player since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win three straight starts on the PGA Tour. Smotherman won in Utah and Bermuda over the last month.

Also three shots back of the lead was 6-foot-8 Tommy Morrison, who played at Texas and wasted no time getting a PGA Tour card through the Korn Ferry Tour since leaving the Longhorns in June.

A-J Ewart of Coquitlam, B.C., and Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont., are in a six-way tie for 28th at 7 under, seven shots behind the leader. Canadians Adam Svensson, Nick Taylor and Taylor Pendrith did not make the weekend cut.

Ramey and van Rooyen are all well outside the top 100 in the FedEx Cup Fall, and a victory would bring any of them a two-year exemption. Valimaki is all set having won the RSM Classic last year.

The Austin Championship and the RSM Classic are the last two events of the season for the top 100 in the FedEx Cup to secure full cards for next year.

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The Associated Press