MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Fabian Gomez counts Jose Coceres as a mentor and has played many rounds with fellow Argentinian Angel Cabrera. He’s also had a piece of a 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour before and wound up tied for second with Jordan Spieth.
Now Gomez has his chance Sunday to see if he can win his first PGA title at the St. Jude Classic.
“Obviously for me to win on the PGA Tour is like a dream come true, and tomorrow is going to be a really exciting day,” Gomez said through a translator. “And you know it’s a day that you don’t have to think too much about the situation and try to play the same way that you played the last few days.”
Gomez and England’s Greg Owen each shot a 3-under-par 67 Saturday to share a one-stroke lead after 54 holes tied at 9-under 201 total at TPC Southwind.
The last time Gomez had a piece of the 54-hole lead was the 2013 Puerto Rico Open. In his third time on this course, Gomez has put together three straight rounds in the 60s driving well and putting even better. Gomez, 36, needed only 24 putts in the third round despite three bogeys. He also had six birdies.
Swirling winds, firm greens and tricky pins caused plenty of issues in a round where as many as six players had a piece of the lead at some point. Brooks Koepka started the round with the lead before shooting a 71 tied with Scott Brown (68) for second at 202.
“It was swirling, swirling so much we couldn’t even figure out a wind direction,” Koepka said. “We knew it was coming from the south. Downwind, threw grass up, hit you in the face two seconds later. You never really knew where the wind was.”
But Gomez feels very comfortable playing in the wind, and he also has won before, even if two came on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica in Buenos Aires in 2013 and 2014. He already has three top 25s on the PGA Tour this season.
“I had a chance you know to win,” Gomez said. “That’s my goal.”
Well, only four international players have won this event since its inception in 1958. Owen, 43, also is looking for his first tour title in his 214th event, and 12 others are within four strokes at a tournament where seven of the past nine champions have come from behind to win.
Matt Jones (68) and Austin Cook (72) were tied at 204, and David Toms (69) and Camilo Villegas (66) were tied with six others at 205.
Phil Mickelson (69) was in a group at 3-under 207, six strokes back himself as he tries tuning up for the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in Washington. He thinks 10 under will win Sunday.
“I feel like I’m hitting the ball well enough to be able to do it, but you really have to put it all together,” Mickelson said. “You don’t have any gimme birdies, you got to make some putts, but I’ll need to get off to a good start.”
Owen, who lives in Florida, has struggled this season, missing five of 12 cuts on tour. His best career finish is second at the 2006 Arnold Palmer Invitational, but his best result this season is a tie for 22nd last November at the Sanderson Farms Championship. He knows this might be his best, last chance at a PGA title with his career “probably on the down spiral.”
He’s putting well too, needing only 26 putts to notch four birdies with a lone bogey.
“Obviously, I’ve been doing it 20 years and I got scars,” Owen said. “That’s probably why it helps me ... because I know where to play and where to put the ball. Take my chances when I can.”
DIVOTS: Koepka was the only player to get to 10 under in the third round. He won in Phoenix in February and will try to join Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Jimmy Walker as multiple winners on tour this season. ... The biggest comeback since 1990 at this event sponsored by FedEx was in 2002 when Len Mattiace rallied after trailing by seven strokes.
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