It was rush hour in Las Vegas Saturday afternoon and at day’s end, it was Brett Stegmaier taking a one-shot lead with a birdie on the 18th hole.
“I felt really comfortable. It’s weird. I thought I’d be really nervous,” Stegmaier said after his round of 68. “I feel like I belong in this position.”
That position is the 54-hole lead at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and it is Stegmaier’s fifth PGA Tour event. There is a real traffic jam behind him and there are plenty of worthy challengers ready to chase him on Sunday.
Morgan Hoffman, who is looking for his first win, held a share of the lead until he hooked his tee shot into the desert left of the 18th hole. He was forced to hit from the rocks and just got it back into the fairway. He made a seven-foot par putt to get himself into the final group with Stegmaier on Sunday.
Like Hoffman, Jimmy Walker bogeyed his final hole of the day and although he was irked about it, he finds himself at 11-under par with Kevin Na. Walker has five PGA Tour wins and experience would figure him to be the strongest challenger to Stegmaier over the final 18 holes.
Na, who lost in a playoff last week at the Frys.com, has history at the TPC Summerlin. His only PGA Tour win came at this event.
Alex Cejka had the best finish of any player in the field Saturday. Over the final three holes he went birdie, hole-in-one, birdie and he is one of four players at 10-under par. In with him are Canadian Nick Taylor, who shot the low round of the top eight players. Taylor shot 67 as the greens began to firm up and made scoring much tough than it had been the first two days.
Jason Bohn, who made a run at the Frys and Cameron Tringale are the others in at 10-under.
