With a putt for eagle from almost four metres on the par five of the 18th, Justin Lower (-16) signed the best round of the day at the World Wide Technology Championship to climb, alongside Nico Echavarría (-16) and Carson Young (-16), to the top of the leaderboard of the PGA Tour tournament being held at El Cardonal at Diamante in Los Cabos, Mexico. A brilliant 63 in low wind conditions with which the American presented his candidacy for victory on the famous course designed by Tiger Woods.
The Colombian, who started as leader alongside Max Greyserman (-15), held on with a round of 68 strokes. Meanwhile, Young, who faced the ‘moving day’ just one shot behind the top two, managed to recover his deficit to form a trio of favourites for the final victory in the penultimate points tournament of the FedEx Fall… with the permission of the chasing list, as long as some are capable of intensifying their birdie production on a course that, when the wind doesn’t blow, allows for very low scores.
Lower confirmed this in his media appearance after his great round: “There are still 18 holes ahead tomorrow on a course that allows for good scores. I think the wind is going to blow lightly again, so it will be necessary to score between five and nine under par. That’s how the scorecards are here, if there’s little wind, the results will be low.” The 35-year-old American had made a birdie on the par four of the 17th before his final eagle in search of what would be his first victory on the PGA Tour.
“I just want to see if I can do it, test myself and confirm that I can really do something important in this sport,” he added. Meanwhile, Echavarría, who comes from winning the ZOZO Championship in Japan a couple of weeks ago, expects exactly the opposite: “I hope there’s wind because I like to compete when it blows. I think I can handle it quite well, so we’ll see. I won’t change my strategy, but maybe playing good golf will be enough.”
Young, for his part, took a giant step towards the fight for victory on Friday, with a brutal round of 61 strokes, the best of his career. “That’s why I’m here, to try to win, so I’m excited to be in such a good position to do it tomorrow,” he said. Although with results like this, they will have to be very aware not only of themselves but also of players like the aforementioned Greyserman or Austin Eckroat (-15), Joe Highsmith (-15), who started the week in 126th place in the FedEx Fall and is playing for his card, Ben Griffin (-14) or Maverick McNealy (-14), not to mention the five players who will start with 12 under par or the seven with 11 under.
