PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Luke List can understand why he might be overlooked in the Honda Classic, even with a shot at his first PGA Tour victory.
He felt that Saturday while taking the lead.
List and Lovemark were trading birdies and keeping clean cards on the front nine at PGA National before an audience of no more than a few dozen people. Everyone else was busy watching Tiger Woods try to stay close enough to contention.
“I know I’ll be an underdog going against Justin Thomas and guys like that, which is fine,” List said. “It’s kind of nice having Tiger in the field now because he takes all the attention off everybody else, so you can just kind of go out and do your own thing.”
His thing was strong enough at PGA National. List finished with a pair of birdies around his lone bogey for a 4-under 66, giving him a one-shot lead over Thomas and Webb Simpson. List was at 7-under 203.
Woods made bogeys on the notorious par 3s on the back nine, and finished with a birdie for a 69. It was the first time he broke 70 on the PGA Tour in the 12 rounds since he first stepped away with a series of back surgeries after the 2015 Wyndham Championship.
And while only 10 players were ahead of him, Woods still was seven shots behind.
“I’ve got a shot going into tomorrow,” Woods said.
Thomas was never far away from the lead, and the final hour changed everything. The PGA champion had three birdies over his last five holes for a 65 to match the low round of the toughest tournament this year on the PGA Tour.
Particularly impressive was that two of those birdies were on the par-3 15th and par-3 17th, the second- and third-toughest holes at PGA National on Saturday. He essentially hit the same shot, a cut 6-iron into the wind to right pins and made 15-footers.
In between those par 3s was a tough par save when he hit out of a fairway bunker, into the wind and over the water to the back right green. He played a lofted pitch to 7 feet and holed it for par, a big improvement from the previous day when he four-putted the 16th for a double bogey.
“I felt like if I parred those holes in, I would have a great chance,” Thomas said. “But making those birdies, it will definitely give me a better chance.”
Simpson, the former U.S. Open champion who has not won in more than four years, played bogey-free for a 66, a card kept clean by a remarkable bunker save with an awkward stance behind the 15th green.
List has the lead, though it probably won’t feel like one with six players separated by only three shots. Tommy Fleetwood of England holed out from the fourth fairway for eagle and finished strong with a birdie on the 16th and an eagle on the final hole with an approach that rolled out to 8 feet. He shot a 67 and was at 205 along with Jamie Lovemark, whose round was spoiled by one shot.
