Taylor Pendrith extended his lead and honeymoon by two strokes after the completion of three rounds on Saturday at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship going on at Port Royal Golf Course.
While not as scintillating as the 61 he shot a day prior, the newlywed Canadian professional’s six-under 65 was enough to move him to 17-under, ahead of New Zealand’s Danny Lee and Lucas Herbert of Australia, and into prime position to capture his first United States PGA Tour title after enjoying a modicum of success on PGA Tour Canada and the Web.com tour.
Lee and Herbert duplicated Pendrith’s 65, as the top three sports remained unchanged from the end of Round Two, the point at which all of the local golfers exited en masse via the down side of the cut line.
The day started out tranquil enough for Pendrith, who parred the first four holes before dropping a shot after bogeying the fifth. But from there the 30-year-old caught fire, registering four consecutive birdies starting at the seventh and added three more for good measure.
Falling away on the day were Patrick Rodgers (69) and Vincent Whaley (68), while reigning champion Brian Gay, in a dramatic move yet unlikely to aid his title defense, advanced 41 spots up the leaderboard with a seven-under-par 64, going from 63rd to a tie for 22nd.
The day though belonged to Pendrith, who played primarily on the Canadian Tour from 2017 to 2019, with little success the first two years before he was runner-up in the 2019 Osprey Valley Open. He then won the 1932byBateman Open and Mackenzie Investments Open, finishing second in the Order of Merit and earning a place on the Korn Ferry Tour.
While playing on the 2020 Korn Ferry Tour, Pendrith notched four runner-up positions three in consecutive tournaments in July and again at the Wichita Open in September as his performances on the junior tour earned him a place at the 2020 U.S. Open where he finished tied for 23rd place after a final round of 70.
Pendrith earned a promotion to the PGA Tour from the Korn Ferry Tour at the conclusion of the 2020-21 season and can earn a two-year exemption to compete on the PGA Tour regardless of his ranking.
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