This post summarizes round 3, or moving day, of the APBA Golf replay of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills (Sooner Hills). Earlier posts described the replay set-up based on conditions for the actual tournament as well as results for rounds 1 and 2.
Actual Event
Unlike rounds 1 and 2, which found the course firm and fast and played in sunny 80-degree conditions with the wind from the south, round 3 was played in light rain with temperatures in the high 50’s with winds coming from the north. Seventy-nine players made the cut, though Tiger Woods dropped out after completing round 3 with a score of 79 for the day.
Mito Pereira (69) took over 1st place in the tournament largely as a result of the 2nd round leaders, Will Zalatoris (73), Justin Thomas (74), and Bubba Watson (73), all failing to break par (70) in round 3. Webb Simpson (65) had the day’s best score, and moved up into a tie, along with six other players, for 10th place on the leaderboard.
Next best were Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young, and Séamus Power who all shot scores of 67. Lucas Glover and Lucas Herbert both followed with scores of 68. While Glover’s solid performance did not move him to within the leaderboard’s top 10, Fitzpatrick (ranked 2nd), Young (ranked 4th), and Power (ranked 6th) all made it. Shooting par, Abraham Ancer (70) dropped one spot from T4 to 5th in the rankings.
The average score for the qualifiers in round 3 was 72.4 strokes, up 2.2 strokes on average from the round 2 qualifier scores. The cool temperatures and rain clearly had an adverse effect on the round 3 scores.
The actual 3rd round Top 10 leaderboard is provided below.
Replay Event
For round 3, the pin was located at position 6, the prevailing wind was Moderate – type ‘B’, and the course conditions Soft (-5 FW roll / 0 Green roll). There was no cut line for the replay in the interest of having similar numbers of golfers finish out. (Actual = 79 vs. Replay = 69.)
The average score for the replay competitors was 71.4 strokes for round 3. (Round 1 was 71.3 and round 2 was 71.5). Unlike the actual event, the change in conditions and wind direction had little overall effect on scoring averages in the replay.
Keith Mitchell (65) posted the day’s top score and thereby secured sole possession of the 11th spot–just out of the Top 10 in the replay rankings. Next, Justin Thomas and Will Zalatoris both recorded scores of 66. Thomas continued his climb up the board to finish round 3 tied for 6th place, now only 3 strokes back and positioned to challenge in the final round for the trophy.
After a shaky start to the replay tournament, Zalatoris moved up from a tie for 44th place in round 2 to T22 in round 3–a respectable improvement in the standings. Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Russell Henley, Scottie Scheffler, and Tom Kim all recorded scores of 67. Koepka’s (T31) and Henley’s (15th) strong round 3 performances were not enough to put them in the Top 10, though.
Dustin Johnson (67) and Xander Schauffele (68) rose to co-leaders at 9-under par. Rory McIlroy (69) and Scheffler (67), one back at 8-under, finished the day tied for 3rd place. Cameron Young (69) took sole possession of 5th place at 7-under par.
Short game troubles plagued Tony Finau (76), the 1st and 2nd round leader, who had putted well in round 1 (with 27 putts) and round 2 (with 23 putts), only to record 34 putts in round 3. (The replay tournament’s average through 3 rounds is 28.2 putts per round). Thus, with an 11-stroke difference in putting from the previous round, Finau dropped from 1st place to the 12th spot. Actual round 3 leader, Mito Pereira (73), continued his weak play and finished round 3 tied for 60th.
Other round 3 highlights include:
- Keith Mitchell hit 13 of 14 fairways.
- Keith Mitchell also had the longest drive at 375 yards on No. 1.
- Justin Thomas sank the longest putt for this round at 40 feet.
- The most greens in regulation were shared by 5 players tied at 14.
- The fewest putts go to Keith Mitchell at 23.
- Xander Schauffele, at 132 ft, recorded the longest total distance of putts made for round 3.
The Top 10 replay leaderboard for round 3 is provided below.
Complete statistical results for the round 3 replay (and earlier rounds) can be viewed by clicking the upper righthand corner on the PDF document below.
Scott, was wondering how you play a tournament such as this. Do you play a twosome or foursome all the way through? I’m assuming because you are using GC that it would be practical to do it that way. So. Foursome or twosome?
It varies, depending on whether I’m also testing out some code or a new feature for the Game Caddie. In early rounds, I’ll often play foursomes. After a cut (if I have one), I usually drop back to threesomes. For the final grouping (or so), I may play pairs. Personally, I like the length of time it takes me to play a round with a threesome once I’m familiar with a course (less than 90 minutes).
Thanks. Makes sense given the amount of players for each round.