YOKOHAMA, Japan — Max Greyserman and Xander Schauffele were tied at the top of the leaderboard after Saturday’s third round of the Baycurrent Classic in Japan.
Greiserman played in the rain and shot an even-par 71 at Yokohama Country Club, while Schauffele shot a 67. Both finished at 12-under 201.
Glaserman is coming off his first PGA Tour win – an event in which he finished second a year ago.
That’s not the same situation as Schauffele, who may be adding to his long resume on Sunday. These include two major championships, a gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and numerous other PGA Tour titles.
Schauffele’s mother was born in Taiwan but grew up in Japan. Of course, winning would be a dream.
“It’s obviously special, my grandparents were here and my mom and her brother grew up here,” he said. “That’s still a long way off right now, but yeah, looking forward, it’s going to be an incredible feeling.”
Glaserman, who has been tied or in the lead since the first round, said he was just hanging on.
“Obviously, I think I’m tied with Xander, so I’m hoping to extend that lead and play better today and so on, but you’re not going to play well for 72 holes in a row,” he said. “The conditions were tough and I didn’t adapt well to the elements, but tomorrow is a new day.”
Defending champion Nico Echavarria (69), Michael Thorbjornsen (66), An Byung-hun (66), Garrick Higgo (68) and Kim Si-woo (69) entered the final round three shots behind.
“I’m very proud of the way I fought today in these conditions and gave myself a chance,” Echavarria said of the rain that fell throughout the day.
This is the only PGA Tour event in Japan. The event moved to Yokohama this year after being held in eastern Tokyo. It premiered in 2019 and was won by Tiger Woods.
