Three men started Friday's 3rd round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines tied for the lead. None of them ended it there.
Jon Rahm, the #1-ranked player in the world and heavy favorite to win for the 3rd time in La Jolla, was one of those players. Former FedEx Cup champion Justin Thomas and Adam Schenk were the others. Not a one of them broke par, opening the door for someone else to stake their claim to the win.
Rahm had the lead at the turn but a double-bogey on 10 dropped him out of the top spot. He ended up with an even-par 72 and sits one shot off the lead. Thomas lost his driver command on the back-9 and shot a 1-over 73, while Schenk started leaking oil early with bogeys on 2 and 3 that led to a 3-over 75.
Meanwhile, a bunch of guys rose up the leaderboard. The shot of the day was turned in my Maverick McNealy. His parents say he's not named after Tom Cruise's character from Top Gun but he might as well have been because they're both aces.
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McNealy's hole in one helped him reach 11-under par, just three shots off the lead, which is held by two players.
Will Zalatoris is the reigning PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. He's still looking for his first win and if he duplicates Friday's round on Saturday he's going to get it. Zalatoris shot a 7-under 65 to get to 14-under par. He's tied with a guy who knows Torrey Pines awfully well.
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Jason Day carded a 5-under round that included birdies on 16, 17, and 18 to get him to 14-under. Day won the Farmers Insurance Open in 2014 and 2017, both in a playoff. He's been battling injuries the last few years so it's nice to see one of the nicest guys in pro sports get his game back together. Now 34 years old, the veteran knows what to do when he's sitting on a share of the 54-hole lead in La Jolla.
"I'm gonna go hit some putts, go work on the swing, really try and cement the feels in. Then go do more therapy stuff tonight, get In-N-Out. That's usually my thing on 3rd rounds, I get In-N-Out in California," says Day.
If Day wins the event he'll go over $50 million in career earnings. That buys a lot of Double-Doubles.
He and Zalatoris will be in the final group on Saturday, teeing off at 11:40 am San Diego time.
