PGA TOUR Canada Q-School – American Ian Davis Holds 3rd Round Lead

Third-Round Leaderboard

Qualifying Tournament No. 2

Davis moves into the 54-hole lead at windy Qualifying Tournament

By Laury Livsey

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida — The wind made sure that the 36-hole leaders at the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada Qualifying Tournament No. 2 weren’t going to go low. And predicted rain Friday for the final round means weather will again play a factor as players attempt to earn their cards for the upcoming Mackenzie Tour season.

Of the leaders who teed off last, Ian Davis managed a 1-under 71, and that was enough to give the former Oklahoma State Cowboy a one-shot lead heading into the final round. Ryan Elmore and Dalton Ward, the 36-hole leaders, both shot 73s in the gusty wind, and they’re tied with amateur Cole Miller in second place. Four players, including amateurs Ben Griffin and Dawson Armstrong, make up make up a group of four players tied for fifth.

On a difficult day, Davis was just happy to walk away with the lead, especially after surviving a double-bogey-6 on No. 6 at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course, Davis’ 15th hole of the day. He hit his tee shot into the water and suffered the consequences. Davis minimized that damage by only making one other bogey the rest of the way, on No. 17. Keys to his round, he said, were par saves he made on his opening two holes, a two-footer, and a seven-footer.

Elmore made the turn to the back nine in the lead, at 1-under on his round, but three bogeys with only one birdie as the day wore on left him trailing Davis. Meanwhile, Ward, playing with Elmore, had a disappointing start and finish to his 1-over round. He bogeyed his first hole of the day and then finished with a bogey on 18.

Key Information

• It’s been an up-and-down tournament for former University of Northern Iowa golfer Kyle Driscoll. Thursday, it was an up day as he made seven birdies and 11 pars for a 7-under 65, the low round of the day to tie him with Ryan Elmore for low-round-of-the-tournament honors. Elmore had a 65 in the second round. Driscoll has never played in a Mackenzie Tour tournament, his only experience of the PGA TOUR variety coming at his unsuccessful attempt to Monday qualify into the Valspar Championship a month ago.
• Kyle Driscoll made the largest jump on the scoreboard in the third round, moving from a tie for 73rd when the day began to his current tie for 12th through 54 holes.
• Three amateurs find themselves in the top five through 54 holes. Penn State’s Cole Miller is at 6-under and tied for second, while the University of North Carolina’s Ben Griffin is tied for fifth, with Lipscomb University’s Dawson Armstrong, at 5-under. Griffin has quietly improved each day following his opening-round 72. He came back with a 1-under 71 in the second round and a 68 in the third round.
• Ireland amateur Daniel Brennan shot a 4-under 68 Thursday to move into a tie for 12th. He played his final five holes in 4-under, with two birdies (No. 14 and 16) and an eagle (No. 17). The native of Limerick attended one semester at the University of Toledo before transferring to Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida.
• There were 14 rounds in the 60s in the first round, 10 in the second round and only six in the third. Only Ian Davis has broken par in each of his first three rounds.
• The second-best score of the day belonged to former Web.com Tour player Blake Trimble. He shot a 5-under 67. A year ago, Trimble played in a career-high 15 Web.com Tour tournaments and made nine cuts but only finished 121st on the money list. Trimble opened with a pair of even-par 72s prior to his 67. He’s tied for fifth.
• Three players withdrew either prior to or after the third round: Collin Neeman, Thomas Murtagh, and Matt Jebavy.

Quotable

“Going off in the afternoon, I’ve just been trying to survive the wind.” –Ian Davis

“The last couple of days, I’ve had a couple of swings that weren’t very good. But my putter has really helped me out.” –Ian Davis

“My expectations are to win—always. That doesn’t mean if I don’t win I won’t see the week as successful.” –Dawson Armstrong

“This is definitely a big opportunity for me. I’m excited, and I definitely would have taken this position at the beginning of the week.” –Ryan Elmore

“I play out of the Disney golf courses in Orlando. So I just spend winters down here in Florida. I’ll go back in May to Wisconsin and hopefully spend a lot of time up in Canada this summer.” –Kyle Driscoll

“I didn’t make a putt. I really didn’t make a putt over five feet today. It was tough on the greens, and the back nine got really tough. Both my birdies were tap-ins. I felt like I was stroking it well it’s just that nothing fell.” – Dalton Ward

Did You Know Kyle Driscoll

was a high school quarterback, playing for his father, head coach, Chris Driscoll at Arrowhead High School in Hartland, Wisconsin? While Kyle eventually quit the sport to focus on football, his brother Kevin played college football at Butler University, while another brother Jake was on two state high school runner-up teams at Arrowhead.

Tournament Fast Fact

This is the seventh Mackenzie Tour Qualifying Tournament held in Florida but the first in Ponte Vedra Beach. The previous six have been held in Kissimmee (2014 and 2016), Port St. Lucie (2016 and 2017), Sebring (2017) and Winter Garden (2015).

How the Qualifying Tournament Works

There are 132 players competing this week with hopes of earning Mackenzie Tour membership for the 2018 season. Below is a breakdown of the status available at each of the five Qualifying Tournaments:

Third-Round Weather Report

Sunny, warm and breezy. High of 74. Wind SE at 12-15 mph, with gusts to 20 mph.