Jun 22, 2019 5 min read

Chez Reavie was plodding along during the third round of the Travelers Championship, watching playing partner Zach Sucher extend his lead.

Then came the turn, both for the round and in the fortunes of the two players.

Coming off a third-place tie last week in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the 37-year-old Reavie matched a tournament record with a back-nine 28 to shoot a 7-under 63. He took advantage of Sucher’s problems and turned a six-stroke deficit into a six-stroke lead heading into Sunday.

The 2008 Canadian Open winner for his lone PGA Tour title, Reavie had a 16-under 194 total at TPC River Highlands. He birdied Nos. 8, 10-13, 15 and 17-18 and has the largest 54-hole lead in Travelers history.

“Zach got some tough breaks early,” Reavie said. “I was able to kind of keep plugging along and make a few putts and the rest was history. I kind of caught fire at the end.”

Sucher had a 71 to drop into a tie for second with Keegan Bradley (69) at 10 under.

Looking for his first PGA Tour win, Sucher – the 32-year-old former college star at Alabama-Birmingham – seemed to have it all going his way, until he didn’t.

He took a share of the lead in the last group Thursday night, came into Saturday with a two-shot advantage and shot 31 on the front nine.

But his drive on the 10th hole went left, hit a tree and bounced backward landing in the rough just 154 yards from the tee. He ended up with a bogey on that hole. He needed two shots to get out of a plugged lie at the lip of a green-side bunker on the 11th and ended with a double bogey, and put his ball into two bunkers on the par-4 13th for another double.

It took just a half-hour for Sucher to go from five strokes ahead of Bradley to four strokes behind Reavie.

“Ten was awful and I deserved bogey, but man, three straight holes I hit shots that weren’t that far off all behind the lip, so two of them plug and, yeah, rough, that’s all you can say about it,” Sucher said. “Other than those three holes, it was a great day.”

Reavie needed just 23 putts in the round, consistently putting his approaches near the pin, despite a strong wind.

“On nine and 10, I kind of started to get a feel for the wind and how it was affecting my golf ball,” he said. “Fortunately, today it kind of stayed steady in the same direction, so I just kind of navigated around in my yardage book to figure out where it was.”

Roberto Diaz (67) and Jason Day (68) were tied for fourth, seven shots back. But Day said he does not think that’s an insurmountable deficit on course where Bubba Watson overcame a six-stroke final-round deficit a year ago.

Brooks Koepka, coming off his runner-up finish at Pebble Beach, shot a 72 and was 1 under.

“It’s hard to focus,” Koepka said. “I don’t think I am even over the PGA and then to exert all your energy last week – I’m just fried. I caught myself yawning out on the golf course. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before.”

Watson was looking for his fourth win in Connecticut to tie the record of Billy Casper. He closed his round of 73 with about a 25-foot putt for birdie to move to 2 under.

Even day for Rohanna: Rachel Rohanna of Waynesburg shot an even-par round of 72 Saturday and is tied for 26th place in the Symetra Tour’s Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass Golf Club in Harris, Mich.

Rohanna began her round in the morning, when scores were generally higher. After not having a bogey on her scorecard in Friday’s opening round, Rohanna bogeyed holes Nos. 3 and 4 but offset them with birdies on Nos. 2 and 8. She played even on the back side with nine consecutive pars.

Louise Stahle of Sweden leads the tournament at 1-under after shooting 65 Saturday. Her round, which was played during the afternoon, included eight birdies.

Green holds on to 1-shot advantage: Hannah Green has a one-shot lead going into the final round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and fresh evidence that going after her first LPGA Tour victory at a major won’t be easy.

Green three-putted for bogey on the 18th hole at Hazeltine for a 2-under 70, leaving her one shot clear of two-time major champion Ariya Jutanugarn, who had a 68.

Green stood over a 6-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole that would have given the 22-year-old Australian a four-shot lead. The putt spun in and out of the cup. Jutanugarn holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th, and Green sputtered at the end.

She was at 9-under 207, with only five players within five shots of the lead.

Flesch’s birdie flurry nets lead: Steve Flesch birdied the final three holes for a 7-under 65 and the second-round lead in the American Family Insurance Championship, with tournament host Steve Stricker a stroke back in his hometown tournament in Madison, Wis.

The 52-year-old Flesch played the back nine at University Ridge in 5-under 31 to reach 11-under 133. He won the 2018 Mitsubishi Electric Classic for his lone PGA Tour Champions title after winning four times on the PGA Tour.

Stricker eagled the par-5 16th in a 67. Billy Andrade (66) and Duffy Waldorf (67) also were 10 under. First-round leader Jerry Kelly, also from Madison, shot a 70 to drop into a tie for fifth at 9 under with Retief Goosen (66) and Tom Pernice (67).

John Daly was four strokes back at 7 under after a 69, and defending champion Scott McCarron had a 67 to get to 6 under.

Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz was last in the 78-man field at 10 over after rounds of 76 and 78. Making his third tour start, the former Atlanta Braves star got into the field on a sponsor exemption.