ZOZO Championship: PGA Tour professionals have probability at historical past4 min read

Three gamers who’ve by no means received on the PGA Tour are atop the ZOZO Championship leaderboard by way of 54 holes.

Justin Suh leads by a stroke, whereas Beau Hossler and Eric Cole are tied for second at 8-under.

Two-time main champion Collin Morikawa, in the meantime, is lurking at 7-under.

Suh, the 26-year-old who performed collegiately on the College of Southern California, carded a 3-under 67 on Saturday.

A protracted birdie putt on the sixteenth gap propelled him into the lead.

That is Suh’s first full season on the PGA Tour after he received the 2022 Korn Ferry Championship. He hopes that have will assist him the remainder of the way in which in Japan.

“I feel the expertise of the Korn Ferry was big, and I feel all through this yr I’ve put myself on this place a couple of instances in some huge tournaments,” Suh stated after his spherical. “Each week you place your self on this place, you be taught a bit of piece of it.”

Certainly, Suh tied for fifth on the Honda Traditional in February after which completed in a tie for sixth on the Gamers Championship in March.

However these have been his final two top-10 finishes in 2023.

Presently, Suh is ranked 81st within the FedEx Cup standings, so a win in Japan—or a top-3 end—will vault him up into the highest 60, which might do wonders for his younger profession.

“Only a shot at a time, I feel that’s crucial,” Suh stated on what he must do on Sunday. “Simply form of pay attention to myself, conscious of the circumstances. I feel that’s form of all you are able to do.”

Picture by Toshifumi Kitamura/Getty Pictures

These gamers ranked between 51st and sixtieth on the finish of the FedEx Cup Fall achieve entry into The Sentry and the AT&T Pebble Seashore Professional-Am, the primary two signature occasions of the 2024 PGA Tour season.

Hossler is making an attempt to get into these occasions, too. He held the 36-hole lead on Friday however carded a 1-under 69 on Saturday.

He’s additionally in search of his first victory on tour.

“It’s going to be a problem,” Hossler stated of the upcoming spherical on Sunday.

“There’s loads of good gamers proper there. This golf course may give you birdies shortly and take away bogeys in a short time as effectively. So I’m simply going to attempt to keep affected person as greatest as I can. The important thing out right here is completely to get the ball within the fairway as a result of taking part in out of this Zoysia tough, you simply haven’t any clue what it’s going to do.”

Gamers have mentioned the significance of discovering the fairways off the tee all week.

But, Cole, who, like Hossler, is 8-under, has discovered the brief grass simply 46.1% of the time to date this week on the ZOZO Championship.

Picture by Lintao Zhang/Getty Pictures

As a substitute, the 35-year-old Cole depends on his beautiful ball placing and brief sport to make birdies.

Solely Suh and Morikawa have made extra birdies than Cole to date this week.

“General, it’s a very good day,” Cole stated of his third spherical. “, 66 on Saturday on the PGA Tour is fairly good. I clearly would have favored to complete a bit of higher, however I feel I’m in a good place. Hopefully, come out swinging tomorrow morning.”

Cole got here oh so shut on the Honda Traditional, the place he misplaced to Chris Kirk in a playoff. He has overcome a lot over time, however he’s now within the high 50 of the FedEx Cup standings.

Get used to seeing Cole extra typically in 2024.

And you must familiarize your self with Suh and Hossler too.

Every of those three guys can play, and the ultimate spherical of the ZOZO Championship must be nothing wanting entertaining.

Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By. You may observe him on Twitter @jack_milko for extra golf protection. Be sure you try @_PlayingThrough too.