Gary Woodland within striking distance entering final round of Wells Fargo Championship

By Matt Tait     May 8, 2021
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Gary Woodland watches his tee shot on the second hole during the third round of the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow on Saturday, May 8, 2021, in Charlotte, N.C.

A third consecutive below-par round on Saturday at Quail Hollow has former University of Kansas All-American within striking distance at the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte.

After entering Round 3 in a tie for the lead, Woodland shot a 1-under 70 on Saturday and, at 7-under for the tournament, sits two strokes behind leader Keith Mitchell heading into Sunday’s final round.

Woodland ended Saturday in a second-place tie with Rory McIlroy, who was a popular pick to win the event entering the week.

Woodland shot 67 on Thursday, 69 Friday and 70 on Saturday.

Woodland led by himself for most of Saturday’s round after carding three birdies in his first 10 holes. But back-to-back bogeys at 13 and 14 dropped him out of the lead. Mitchell shot a Saturday-best 5-under in Round 3 to climb to the top of the leaderboard.

Woodland got one of the bogeys back with a birdie-2 at No. 17 and he followed that up with a par at 18.

Woodland’s tee shot on the 138-yard 17th hole landed inside of five feet from the cup and gave him an easy look at birdie. That helped make up for the missed 9-footer on 13 that led to bogey.

Woodland also missed a 5-foot putt for par on No. 14 before he regained control of his short game.

As the leader after 36 holes, Woodland played in the final group of the day on Saturday. He’ll be in the second-to-last group during Sunday’s final round. He’ll be paired with Luke List (-6) in the group that goes off at 12:30 p.m. Mitchell and McIlroy will play right behind them, teeing off at 12:40 p.m.

Woodland is looking for his first PGA Tour win since winning the U.S. Open in June of 2019 at Pebble Beach.

The 2007 KU graduate has recorded 11 top-20 finishes — 7 in the top 10 — since winning his the first major championship of his career.

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55780Gary Woodland within striking distance entering final round of Wells Fargo Championship
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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.