Fathauer moves in front at Web.com Tour Championship
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Derek Fathauer carded a 3-under 67 on Saturday and he moved 1-stroke clear of the field after 54 holes of the Web.com Tour Championship.
Fathauer finished three rounds at 12-under-par 198. He will go for his first tour win on Sunday. Fathauer's total of 198 missed the tournament's 54-hole scoring record by one stroke.
The second round was completed earlier Saturday after play was suspended by darkness on Friday night. There was a weather delay on Friday and three more stoppages during the third round on Saturday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}First- and second-round leader Zac Blair stumbled to a 1-over 71 in the third round. He dropped into second place at minus-11, while the tour's all-time wins leader Jason Gore is one stroke back at 10-under 200. Gore carded a 66 on Saturday.
Tyrone Van Aswegen (67), Jim Herman (65) and Adam Hadwin (67) share fourth place at 8-under 202. Travis Bertoni (68) is alone in seventh at minus-7 on the Dye's Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass.
Fathauer opened with a birdie on the first and a par on the second. He poured in three consecutive birdie chances from the third to jump into the lead at 13-under.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Blair, who started the day at minus-12, opened with six straight pars. There was a 2-shot swing in Blair's favor at the par-5 seventh. Blair converted a birdie, while Fathauer tripped to a bogey.
Fathauer joined Blair atop the leaderboard as he chipped in for birdie on the ninth. After three pars in a row from the eighth, Blair reclaimed the lead with a long birdie putt on No. 11.
After returning from the second, and longest weather delay of the day, Blair made a mess of the 14th as he walked off with a triple-bogey, which dropped him to 11-under.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fathauer also stumbled as he found water on the 15th and that led to a double- bogey. That dropped Fathauer into a share of the lead, but he got one stroke back when he birdied the 16th. Fathauer parred the last two holes to lead by one after three rounds.
"It was nice to bounce back with a birdie," said Fathauer of the 16th. "I want to stick to my game plan. I really want to do this for myself."
Blair parred the last four holes to end round three one stroke off the lead.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Every week you tee it up you want to win. I'm going to go out, play my game and see where I am at the end of the day," Blair stated.
NOTES: Fathauer is looking for his first tour win ... He was in the final group last week, but stumbled into a share of eighth ... Fathauer leads the tournament with 17 birdies, which raises his season total to 342, which is most on tour ... Blair's best previous finish on the Web.com Tour was a tie for ninth at the Utah Championship.