Las Vegan shares lead with Shriners Open set for wild finish

Greyson Sigg strolled down the ninth fairway at TPC Summerlin singing a song and enjoying the pleasant Saturday afternoon weather.

Short sleeves and low scores were back at the Shriners Children’s Open during the third round, which put a smile back on the faces of the players.

“It’s been a lot nicer today,” Doug Ghim said.

Ghim took advantage of those favorable afternoon conditions and had the round of the day going when play was suspended because of darkness. The Las Vegas resident was 7 under through 16 holes and shared the tournament lead at 15 under with J.T. Poston, who also was still on the course.

The third round will resume at 8 a.m. Sunday at TPC Summerlin with the final round beginning at about 10 a.m. The leaders are expected to tee off at 11:50 a.m., according to the PGA Tour.

“I think it’s nice knowing that I can sleep in a little bit and not have to wake up and finish a hole and then wait around for however long it’s going to be,” former UNLV golfer Kurt Kitayama said.

Kitayama was in the clubhouse at 14 under after a smooth 6-under 65 that featured no bogeys and five birdies on the back nine. Gary Woodland also shot 65 to match Kitayama at 14 under, while Harris English and Alejandro Tosti are both at 14 under through 14 holes.

There are 23 players within four strokes of the leaders, setting up a potential shootout Sunday at a course that typically yields lots of birdies.

“I’m going to go out and continue to do what I’ve been doing and hopefully put a low round together,” Woodland said.

Ghim got hot on the back nine with four straight birdies starting on No. 13. He feasted on the downwind par 5s, including the 512-yard 16th when he reached the green on his second shot and had a tap-in birdie.

The 28-year-old is searching for his first PGA Tour win, but has been playing well with five straight made cuts entering this week.

“Obviously it’s a very gettable stretch,” Ghim said. “You’re going to have a lot of opportunities. It’s definitely how you hope to play them and just fortunate enough to get the looks and actually convert.”

Poston was 2 under after 13 holes, and his card included 12 pars. But his otherwise vanilla round was highlighted by an eagle at No. 9 when Poston stuffed a 3-wood from 264 yards away to within 3 feet.

“It was a little right of where I was looking, but I knew I hit it good when I hit it,” Poston said. “It was just a matter of trying to see how soft it would land.”

Poston, who has two career wins, with the last coming at the John Deere Classic in 2022, also shared the 36-hole lead with Germany’s Matti Schmid when the second round concluded Saturday morning.

“I feel like I’ve hit a lot of good shots and some of them just haven’t quite gotten close,” Poston said. “I’m trying to stay patient and hit good shots. I feel like I’ve hit a lot of shots exactly how I wanted to and just haven’t quite gotten the putter going.”

Schmid made it through 13 holes before play was halted and is in the group at 13 under along with J.J. Spaun, Davis Thompson, Norman Xiong and first-round leader Taylor Pendrith. K.H. Lee finished his round of 65 and was in the clubhouse at 13 under.

Davis Riley had the low round going at 8 under through his first 11 holes, but finished with three bogeys and had to settle for a 66 that put him at 9 under.

“There’s a lot of golf left,” Poston said. “The conditions are going to be pretty easy. I think you saw it with some of the scores, guys are making birdies.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.