Putnam’s nerveless 64 forges tie with Johnson at top in Memphis

Andrew Putnam may not have won yet on the PGA Tour, but he showed in the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic that he’s not intimidated by the big stage or the presence of one of the world’s best golfers also playing well.

Putnam, a two-time winner on the developmental Web.com Tour, fashioned a bogey-free 6-under-par 64 on Saturday to finish at 15 under overall and in a tie with former world No. 1 Dustin Johnson after three rounds under warm and benign conditions at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn.

“It’s going to feel a little different than a normal Sunday round of golf and I’m excited about it because I’ve earned my way here,” Putman said. “I feel like it’s going to be a fun day — we’ll see what happens. I will just keep going with the game plan and see what we can do.”

Johnson, who can reclaim the world’s top ranking with a win this week, continued to rev up for next week’s U.S. Open as he fired a 5-under-par 65 on Saturday.

Johnson, the 2016 U.S. Open champ currently ranked No. 2 in the world, has a win and two runner-up finishes this season and has 17 career victories on the PGA Tour. His round on Saturday included one bogey and six birdies, four of them on the back nine, on the demanding par-70 layout.

Putnam has just one bogey over the first 54 holes of this event, which leads the field, and moved into a tie with Johnson thanks to a handful of scrambling holes among his 12 pars and an 18-foot birdie on the tough closing hole.

“I feel like I hit the ball the best this week in the first round but just couldn’t get anything to drop,” Putnam said. “I have worked to match up the speed and the line of these Bermuda greens, which I’m not really used to. The last 36 holes have been pretty good.”

Stewart Cink, the 2009 Open Championship winner, fired a 64 on Saturday that included a hole-in-one on the 143-yard par-3 eighth to equal Putnam’s low round of the day and move up 11 spots on the leaderboard and into third place at 10 under.

“You think you should make holes-in-one out here all the time with how much we play out here, but they don’t come around very often,” said Cink, who is in the hunt for his first top-10 finish since this tournament last year.

“I haven’t driven the ball well this week, and that’s usually what you need to do to succeed on this course. But my iron shots have been very good when I’ve found the fairway, and I’ve managed my misses very well. It will take a lot more to be able to catch the two guys that are out in front.”

Richy Werenski (who shot a 66) is tied for fourth at 9 under along with Wesley Bryan (69).

Chez Reavie is alone in sixth at 8 under after he carded a 68 on Saturday that ended with a scrambling bogey on the closing hole after he found the lake off the tee. He had a wild day, with nine pars on the front nine before five birdies, that bogey and a double after the turn.

Trey Mullinax (65), Thailand’s C.T Pan (71) and Brandt Snedeker (who followed up his 62 on Friday with an even-par 70 in the third round) are tied for seventh at 7 under, eight shots off Putnam and Johnson’s lead.

Nine players are tied for 10th, including Ole Miss amateur Braden Thornberry (65), reigning U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka (69) and Steve Stricker (68). Ryan Blaum began the day one shot off the lead but struggled to a 74 on Saturday while playing with Johnson in the final group.

Thornberry, the No. 2-ranked amateur in the world and the reigning NCAA individual champion, said this week he’ll likely remain an amateur through his senior year at Ole Miss.

“I haven’t made a for-sure decision,” Thornberry said. “Obviously the plan right now would be to return to Ole Miss since I’m playing as an amateur this summer; that would be the plan right now for the senior year. … Some of the recruits that we have coming in, it’s going to be a really special year next year and I’d like to be a part of it.”

Next year, TPC Southwind will host the 2019 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. A source with knowledge of the situation told the (Memphis) Commercial Appeal on Wednesday that the tournament will be held July 22-28, 2019.

Only golfers ranked among the top-50 in the world, representatives of the prior Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams, as well as select winners from the biggest tournaments on various international tours, are eligible to compete in WGC events.

It means most of the PGA Tour pros playing this tournament this year won’t be coming back. The field this week includes only nine of the world’s top-50 golfers.

–Field Level Media