Max Homa Into a Tie For Fourth at St. Jude; All 3 Cal Golfers Poised to Advance in Playoffs

Max Homa continued his high-level play and all three Cal golfers playing the FedEx St. Jude Championship are well-positioned to advance to Week 2 of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Homa shot a bogey-free 5-under 65 and climbed 10 spots to a tie for fourth with Jordan Spieth at minus-11, three strokes off the lead. Homa has improved with each round this week, carding scores of 68, 66 and 65.

Collin Moriawa’s 3-under 67 leaves him at 8 under and part of a four-way tie for 12th place entering Sunday’s final round at TPC Southwind in Memphis, and Byeong Hun An included five birdies in his third-round scorer of 2-under 68, making him one of seven players tied for 17th at minus-7.

Second-round leader Lucas Glover shot 66 and held off Taylor Moore to remain atop the feld of 70 at minus-14. Moore made seven birdies on the way to a 65 and is one back of Glover at 13 under.

Tommy Fleetwood logged a 66 for the third day in a row and is in third place at 12 under.

Homa is three strokes off the pace after assembling five birdies on Saturday.

"I like how I'm playing," Homa said. "I can't do a whole lot more than what I've been doing. I played three really solid rounds. Obviously, left some out there, like everybody has. I'm just going to keep doing it and see what comes of tomorrow."

Morikawa made three birdies and an eagle-3 on the par-5 16th hole — one of nine players to eagle that hole on Saturday. He now has 10 birdies (plus the eagle) through three rounds after pledging to donate $1,000 for each eagle he records during the duration of the FedEx Cup playoffs to benefit victims of the fires in Maui.

The 26-year-old Cal grad said Thursday his grandfather owned a restaurant on Front Street in Lahaina, which has been decimated by the fire that has killed at least 80 people.

The top 50 players in the FedEx Cup rankings updated after Sunday’s final round qualify to play next week in the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club in Illinois.

The top 30 will advance to the Tour Championships, set for Aug.24-27 at East Lake Golf Course in Atlanta, where the winner will take home $18 million and even the 10th-place finisher earns $1 million.

Homa (ranked No. 4 prior to St. Jude/projected at No. 5), Morikawa (No. 22/No. 23) and An (No. 37/No. 32) all are currently projected to easily be among the top 50 after this weekend.

As the Golf Channel website pointed out, there is more on the line in the FedEx Cup playoffs than a big payday this year:

Next year’s eight signature events – The Sentry, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, The Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship, the Memorial and Travelers Championship – will feature fields of 70 to 80 players. The primary qualification for these tournaments will be being among the top 50 from the previous season’s points list.

Justin Rose, who shot a 6-over 76 on Thursday, made nine birdies en route to carding a 61 in the third round to tie the course record. He is tied for 23rd at minus-6, along with top-ranked Scottie Scheffler, projected to be No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings.

Jon Rahm shot a 67 for the second day in a row and climbed nine spots into a tie for 42nd at minus-3. He remains projected to be No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings after this week.

Rory McIlroy is tied for sixth place at minus-9 and projected to close out the week at No. 3 in the standings.

Cover photo of Max Homa by Chris Day, Commercial Appeal for the USA Today Network

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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