Justin Thomas Leads Going into Workday Charity Open Final Round

Justin Thomas was locked in on Saturday as he fired a 66 to take a two shot lead into the final round of the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

Thomas is now bogey-free through three rounds at “Jack’s Place” en route to turning a three-shot deficit into a two-shot lead as he goes for his third victory of the season.

“Just kind of executed what we were trying to do,” Thomas said. “Got the ball in the fairway very well and hit my irons well. It just was a difficult day and some serious wind for the last two days, and just felt like we’ve really been solid, Jimmy and I, and made some of those key putts when I needed to.”

Due to weather issues forecasted in the area for Sunday, tee times will be set in threesomes between 7-9 am with players teeing off on Nos. 1 and 10. The 27 year-old Thomas will be paired with two of the PGA TOUR’s young guns in Collin Morikowa and Viktor Hovland.

“I’ve been around Collin a good bit,” Thomas said. “I haven’t spent much time around Viktor. I’ve obviously seen him and know he’s an unbelievable player, so it’ll be fun to play with those two guys tomorrow because I’m sure it’s the first of many pairings I’ll have with them.”

Morikowa had dominated the event for the first two days, but a roller coaster round on Saturday has him sitting three shots behind Thomas.

“It was really up and down. I put myself in spots you couldn’t put yourself in,” Morikowa said. “Couldn’t really figure out wind directions, how much to adjust. But whole new day tomorrow and kind of glad I fought it out through even par and got myself three back, so that can change really quickly tomorrow. ”

Rickie Fowler fired a 66 in the third round to move up 22 spots into a tie for 8th.

“I knew it was going to take a really good round of golf today because I wasn’t necessarily expecting guys to move back, and it’s playing tough out there. All I could do was go shoot what I could shoot today,” Fowler said.

Due to weather delays on Friday, the second round did not finish until Saturday morning with the cut at two-under.

In spite of a spectacular back nine charge that saw him shoot 31 coming in, Brooks Koepka had dug himself too deep of a hole and missed the cut. He was originally not in the field for next week’s Memorial, but he committed at the last minute.

“I never give up, never think you’re out of it, and you’ve just got to battle through it no matter what you’re doing. That’s part of why you’re out here. You’re a pro, you just sack up and do it,” Koepka said. ” I’m pretty far down in the FedExCup and need to make a run. I think it’s pretty simple. I didn’t plan on playing, but things change, and I’d like to be in Atlanta. That’s what you’ve got to do; I’m going to basically run the table. ”