– Thorbjorn Olesen (-18) and Akshay Bhatia (-18) are the co-leaders of the 3M Open after the third round. The Dane therefore maintains his position of privilege at the top of the leaderboard after carding a 67, but this week, at this TPC Twin Cities (Blaine, Minnesota), generous with birdies and big scores, nothing is guaranteed. The proof is that Bhatia has joined the group of strong contenders by delivering a score of 63 today, eight under for the day, not to mention Kurt Kitayama (-17), who has climbed more than forty places thanks to a splendid card of 60 strokes and will start tomorrow just one shot off the lead…
– Kitayama’s round deserves a separate mention. Especially his first nine holes on the Minnesota course, where he carded a 28, with seven birdies and two pars. On the 7th hole, he missed his first green in regulation, but it mattered little, as he holed it for birdie from the rough in a tricky position. And watch out: on the only two holes where he didn’t make birdie, he had putts of less than four metres to have done so. A gem, the work of an absolutely unpredictable player.
– Who is to say that this Sunday, in the final round, someone can’t come from deep in the leaderboard and replicate Kitayama’s charge and his eleven under par on Saturday, to blow the tournament wide open? Such a possibility cannot be ruled out. That’s why we can’t even write off and discount players like Adam Scott (-11) and Sam Burns (-11), and much less others like Wyndham Clark (-14) or Matt Wallace (-13).
– In this scenario, Chris Gotterup (-16) also remains a clear favourite. And that’s despite finishing with a bogey on the par 5 of the 18th hole. Gotterup, at least, has already done the main homework, after his spectacular British tour, with a win in Scotland and a great performance in the Open, and he almost has his place in the final play-off secured. For others, however, Sunday’s round will have much more significance. Olesen, for example, is playing for his place in the play-offs. Also Kitayama, Alex Noren (-16) or Pierceson Coody (-16), to speak only of players who will start tomorrow within the top ten and one or two shots off the lead.
