Harris English and Matt Kuchar had a day for the record books Saturday at the QBE Shootout with an 11-under par 61 in the modified alternate shot format.
That 61 in the more difficult of the three formats gave the Kuchar-English team a whopping five-shot lead heading into Sunday’s best-ball round. A five-shot lead in team play is akin to a 10-shot lead in individual play.
I feel like our games really fit this format well,” English said. “He does a lot of stuff that I’m not great at and maybe I do some stuff that he’s not great at. It’s just fun. It’s very relaxing out there.”
“There’s still a need to make lots of birdies,” Kuchar said. “I think this best-ball format, guys are going to shoot some low scores. Whatever the lead is, pars aren’t going to be helping out very much. We’ve got to still make a bunch of birdies tomorrow to try to protect the lead.”
No one came close to matching the lead duo’s effort. Kevin Na and Sean O’Hair will start the final 18 five behind after shooting 68. “Alternate shot’s a tough format,” Na said. “I don’t know what these guys played that are leading, but we were saying anything better than five-under was a good score. We fell one short of what our minimum was, but it’s tough.”
Two teams were tied for third at 18-under par. Louie Oosthuizen and Bubba Watson combined for a 66 while Lanto Griffin and Mackenzie Hughes shot 68.
