Woodland leads Houston Open
Gary Woodland sits one shot clear at 18-under after a 5-under 65 in Round 3 at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, with Nicolai Højgaard a stroke back after both fired 4-under 31s on the back nine heading into Sunday. (cbssports.com) (golfweek.usatoday.com)
Final-round group at Memorial Park will feature Gary Woodland, Nicolai Højgaard and defending champion Min Woo Lee, teeing off together at 12:55 p.m. EDT Sunday. (golfchannel.com: ) Woodland drilled a 2-iron onto the green at the reachable par-5 16th and followed with another strong shot at 17 in the closing holes of his round, and the week marks his first solo 54-hole lead since winning the 2019 U.S. Open. (pgatour.com: ) Nicolai Højgaard has been red-hot over the last two rounds, producing 15 birdies and an eagle en route to back-to-back low scores of 62 and 63 heading into Sunday. (pgatour.com: ) No other player is closer than five shots to the leaders, with defending champion Min Woo Lee and Michael Thorbjornsen listed among those five strokes back after Saturday. (pgatour.com: ) The week carries Masters implications: the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking after this event will receive invitations, and PGA Tour coverage notes Michael Thorbjornsen sits outside the top 50 and likely needs about a top-eight finish to move in. (pgatour.com: ) (yahoo.com: ) The tournament purse is listed at $9.9 million for the Texas Children’s Houston Open, and final-round broadcast windows include Golf Channel coverage starting 1 p.m. ET and NBC in the afternoon. (espn.com: ) (golfchannel.com: )
