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Second round co-leaders Keegan Bradley and Sam Burns each had an eagle, two birdies and two bogeys and stayed atop the leaderboard after Saturday’s third round of the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla.
Bradley, who also led after Thursday’s first round, and Burns shot 2-under 69s to close Saturday at 14-under 199, good enough for a one-shot lead over Max Homa.
The difference in the leaders’ cards was that Burns’ eagle came on the par-5 first hole at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, while Bradley scored an eagle on the par-5 14th hole. Each of the co-leaders had their birdies on the front nine and their bogeys on the back nine.
After the round, Burns, who has yet to win on the Tour, looked forward to putting Saturday’s rough finish behind him.
“Yeah, I mean, I can’t change anything from today, so tomorrow will be a fresh start and we’ll try to work our process and just go out there and try to take care of business,” he said.
Bradley, a four-time Tour winner including the 2011 PGA Championship, said he missed some opportunities Saturday.
“I just didn’t hole the putts that I’ve been making the first two rounds. But without doing that, I still shot 69 and I’m still tied for the lead, so all good,” he said.
“I know I can do it. I know I’ve been up here and won some big tournaments in my career, and I feel like if I go out tomorrow and stick to my process, I can have a chance coming down the end,” Bradley said.
Homa, who began the day among four players tied for third place, had an eventful path to a 5-under 66, posting an eagle, five birdies and two bogies.
In two notable four-hole sequences, Homa had two birdies and the eagle on Nos. 5-8, and finished his day with birdie-bogey-par-birdie.
Among four players tied for fourth was Ted Potter Jr., who fired the best round of the day, an 8-under 63. He recorded five birdies vs. one bogey on the front nine, and he went bogey-eagle to open the back nine, and then birdied three of his next four holes.
Potter said he “hit a lot of good iron shots today, too, to give myself good looks at some birdies. I had a lot of putts that didn’t have a lot of break to them, so that helped a lot out there.”
Joining Potter at 10-under 203 overall were Abraham Ancer of Mexico (66 on Saturday), Chile’s Joaquim Niemann (67) and Cameron Tringale (67).
Two-time defending champion Paul Casey of England shot 1-over 72 and tumbled into a tie for 14th place at 2-under 211.
–Field Level Media