Patrick Fishburn of the United States and Zac Blair of the United States celebrate on the 18th green during the third round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC Louisiana on April 27, 2024 in Avondale, Louisiana. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
Blair and Fishburn were not messing around on Saturday.
The 123rd- and 326th-ranked players in the world, respectively, got it going early on Day 3, birdieing the par-4 opener and making eagle on the par-5 second. They’d add four more birdies before making the turn with a 7-under 29. With a sub-60 round in reach, Team Blair/Fishburn birdied four of the first five holes on the back nine and walked to the 15th tee box with a two-shot lead.
Fishburn knocked in a lengthy birdie effort on 15, pushing the pair to 12 under with three holes remaining.
However, if there’s such a thing as a disappointing 60, the pair from BYU failed to reach the 59 mark after three straight pars to finish the day.
“Yeah, just kind of rode Fish all day,” Blair told the media. “He played good. Started off super hot. Birdieing on 1, eagle 2, birdie 4, birdie 5. I mean, it was pretty textbook out there for him.”
Has this come outta nowhere? Yeah, kinda.
Blair had missed three straight cuts coming into the week with his best finish coming at the Sony Open back in January (T-30). Fishburn had missed seven cuts in his first nine events this year with no top 20s.
Both players are looking for their first Tour wins.
