Change in weather leads to difficult day for scoring at Fortinet Championship at Silverado
NAPA — The weather changed on Saturday, and so did the par-72, 7,123-yard North Course at Silverado Resort and Spa, the host of the Fortinet Championship.
After two days of sunny skies with temperatures in the high 70s and outstanding scoring, conditions changed during the third round, as the winds kicked up and made for a much different test and challenge for the players in the PGA Tour’s first event of the 2022–23 season.
Some holes played downwind, others straight into a headwind. The winds swirled throughout the afternoon when the second-round leaders, Max Homa and Danny Willett, went out.
Homa’s opening tee shot of the day was a mammoth drive of 347 yards, as he hit the center of the fairway.
It turned partly cloudy later in the day and the breezy conditions did not let up. Workers came out and blew leaves off some greens.
To sum it up, birdies were tough to come by; pars kept you on the leaderboard; scoring was tough.
Willett went to 13-under when he birdied the par-4, 337-yard eighth hole.
But in a two-stroke swing, Homa parred and Willett made double bogey on the par-5, 565-yard ninth hole. Homa knocked his second shot just short of the green, but missed his birdie try. Willett had all sorts of trouble, hitting his third shot over the green, pitching his fourth shot on and off the green, getting back on the green and then two-putting.
Beyong Hun An got it to 13-under, and then double-bogeyed the par-5 16th hole.
There are all kinds of players now in the mix and contending going into Sunday’s final round, where the weather could change even more and play a big factor.
The Fortinet Championship, a FedEx Cup regular season event, carries an $8 million purse.
The Fortinet Championship is the first of 47 events during the 2022–23 PGA Tour season.
Due to rain in the forecast, there have been changes to Sunday’s schedule, with starting times moving up, as announced by the PGA Tour on Saturday.
Due to forecasted inclement weather, the final round of the Fortinet Championship will have threesomes off split tees, Nos. 1 and 10, from approximately 8 to 10:12 a.m. There could be delays in play on account of the rain.
Golf Channel’s coverage will also be delayed.
The Sunday forecast from AccuWeather calls for “cooler with periods of rain,” with temperatures ranging from 59 to 68, according to www.accuweather.com.
The forecast, according to AccuWeather, calls for “breezy and cooler with periods of rain.”
The winds will be at 15 mph out of the southeast, with wind gusts up to 31 mph, according to www.accuweather.com.
The probability of precipitation is 93 percent and there is a 22 percent probability of thunderstorms, according to AccuWeather.
The forecast from AccuWeather is also for six hours of rain and 0.42 inches of rain.
The 54-hole leader is Justin Lower, who shot a 3-under 69 and is at 13-under-203.
Fifteen players are within five shots of the lead.
“The course is probably the most firm it has been and the wind didn’t make it easy. Wind never makes it easy for that matter,” said Lower. “I just tried to really keep it as simple as I could — keep it in play, keep it in the fairway because I really think you can score from the fairway. It’s very tough to score from the rough, especially with the pins tucked the way they are.
“It definitely got cooler. The ball wasn’t traveling quite as far. It’s the firmest the course has played all week.”
Tied for second are Max Homa, who shot even-par 72, and Danny Willett, who also had a 72. They are at 12-under 204. They were co-leaders in the second round.
“Just a grind. The weather made it tricky,” said Homa. “Didn’t putt it well. But I’m proud of the way I kept swinging, I didn’t get too impatient and kept myself in the golf tournament.”
Said Willett: “It was tough when we started the day. It was really windy.”
In fourth is Byeong Hun An, who shot 71 and is at 11-under 205.
“It was tough out there today. It was a little breezy, greens getting firmer and firmer,” said An. “I feel I played decent all the way through. I’m still hitting it pretty good, but I feel like I’m rolling it decent. Tomorrow’s going to be a rainy day, so hopefully my long game will help.”
Tied for fifth, at 10-under 206, are four players: Davis Thompson (65), Paul Haley II (66), Adam Svensson (67) and Matt Kuchar (70).
“It was a challenging day out there. Windy, firm conditions,” said Kuchar. “Controlling your distance becomes a difficult thing in the wind with the firm conditions.”
Tied for ninth, at 9-under 207, is a group of four players: Harrison Endycott (65), Mark Hubbard (67), Austin Smotherman of Loomis (67), Sahith Theegala (71).
Rickie Fowler (69) is among four players tied for 13th at 8-under 208.
Lower, Homa and Willett will play in the final group Sunday at 10:12 a.m. from the first tee.
Tournament Notes
* Harrison Endycott of Sydney, Australia was the first player out in Saturday’s third round. Playing as a single and starting his round at 7:40 a.m., Endycott made the cut on the number, at 2-under-par 142 after 36 holes. Endycott worked his way on to the tournament leaderboard, shooting a bogey-free 7-under-par 65.
Endycott had birdies on Nos. 1, 3, 8 and 9 on the front side, and 11, 12 and 15 on the back nine.
In his PGA Tour debut, he was one of 15 players on the cut line.
Asked about playing as a single and the first out, Endycott said: “It was awesome. You’ve got no one to worry about and the greens were perfect. I played really nice out there today. Played some good golf today. Got the putter rolling.
“It’s been an amazing experience this week. I’m just trying to do my best every day and go from there.”
* The 6-under 66 that Paul Haley II shot on Saturday is his career-low in his 20th PGA Tour start. Haley is making his first Tour start since the 2013 Wyndham Championship, a span of 3,315 days between the end of his last Tour start (Sunday, August 18, 2013) and Round 1 of this week’s Fortinet Championship.
* Friday’s 36-hole cut was at 2-under, with 73 players advancing.
* Each of the last three winners of the Fortinet Championship has gone on to qualify for the TOUR Championship, highlighted by Max Homa’s fifth-place finish in the FedExCup last season.
* This is the final season of the PGA Tour’s wraparound schedule.
* With the exception of 2019, Silverado has been the season-opening event since the Tour went to its wraparound schedule in 2013–14.
* It marks the ninth straight year of the PGA Tour playing at Silverado’s North Course, a par-72, 7,123-yard layout.
* It marks the second year with Fortinet, a Silicon Valley-based company that is a global leader in broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions, as the tournament’s title sponsor.
