Thomas Longbella leads after Saturday at KIA Open

QUITO, Ecuador – Thomas Longbella took hold of the lead at the KIA Open after carding a third-round 7-under 65 on Saturday. Longbella leads by one stroke at 16-under over Gunn Yang. Three players are tied for third entering Sunday’s final round at Quito Tenis y Golf Club.

After a bogey-free 6-under 66 in the first round, Longbella was tied for fourth and two strokes back from the lead. A second-round 3-under 69 pushed him further up the leaderboard to a tie for second, and after an eagle on the 17th hole in the third round, Longbella carded his lowest score of the season to take the lead. It is his first time at the top of the leaderboard this season.

In his third season as a professional, Longbella’s career consists of 11 top 25s, including three top 10s highlighted by a third-place finish at the Osprey Valley Open on PGA TOUR Canada in 2022. He earned membership into the inaugural season of PGA TOUR Americas with a 33rd-place finish on PGA TOUR Canada’s Fortinet Cup points list in 2023. The 26-year-old has already notched one top-10 finish this season at the Totalplay Championship at Atlas Country Club (T10/-11). Saturday’s 7-under 65 is his lowest tournament score since PGA TOUR Canada’s Windsor Championship in August of 2023.

Longbella competed for five seasons at the University of Minnesota after the spring of his senior season was cancelled due to COVID-19. Although the fall season of his fifth year was also cancelled, Longbella finished his last spring season as second on the team with a 74.87 scoring average. Off the golf course and throughout his collegiate years, Longbella was honored with four different recognitions: Big Ten Golfer of the Week/Month (2016), Academic All-Big Ten (2018, 2019, 2021), Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar (2019), and the Golf Coaches Association of America All-American Scholar (2020, 2021).

Current Korn Ferry Tour member Shad Tuten is currently tied for sixth place at 12-under par. Tuten carded the lowest round of the day with an 8-under 64 to move 26 spots up the leaderboard. This is Tuten’s first start back to competition due to a heart condition since the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Championship where he missed out on getting his TOUR card by 16 points.

Tuten has recorded one PGA TOUR-sanctioned win in his nine years as a professional at the 2019 PGA TOUR Latinoamérica 66 JHSF Aberto do Brasil. That year would be his last full schedule played on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, as Tuten finished eighth on the Order of Merit and went on to play 40 events on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2020. Tuten looks to record his first top-10 finish since the Korn Ferry Tour’s Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank in August of 2023.

Final-round tee times begin at 7:27 a.m. ET and will run until 12:15 p.m. ET off the No. 1 tee on Sunday.

About Thomas Longbella (1/-16)

Age: 26
Birthplace: Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
Residence: Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
College: University of Minnesota
Fortinet Cup (start of week): 33

• Born and raised in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
• Graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2021 with a degree in Business and Marketing Education
• Monday Qualified for the Corales Puntacana Championship on the PGA TOUR in back-to-back years (2023/MC, 2024/MC)
• Has made two Korn Ferry Tour starts in 2024 at the 117 Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro (MC) and the Astara Chile Classic presented by Scotiabank (MC)
• Won the 119th Wisconsin State Amateur Championship by a 10-stroke margin, one shot off the tournament record
• In his junior career, he won the WSGA Junior Boys Championship, the 2014 Wisconsin PGA Junior Championship, and placed first in three straight age-level state junior championships from 2012 to 2014
• Enjoys fishing

Competition Notes

Course Setup: Par 72 / 7,412 yards; Cumulative average: 71.110
Weather: Cloudy with a high of 65. Wind from the north at 1-5 mph with gusts up to 9 mph

• The lowest round of the day was a bogey-free 8-under par 64, and was carded by Shad Tuten (T3/-12)
• Tuten carded 14 birdies in his last 29 holes; he has been bogey-free for his last 33 holes
• Four Argentinians are inside the top 10 and ties: Mateo Fernández de Oliveira (T8/-11), Jaime Lopez Rivarola (T10/-10), Martin Contini (T10/-10) and Mauro Baez (T10/-10)
• Joey Savoie is T19 at 8-under par and leads six Canadians who made the cut
• Diego Vanegas of Colombia (T32/-6) recorded a 2 at the par-5 No. 3 in Friday’s second round; it was the third albatross of the PGA TOUR Americas season
• Ecuador native Felipe Garcés is the first amateur to make a cut this season and is T27 at 7-under
• Mauro Baez (T10/-10) and Martin Contini (T10/-10) are two Monday Qualifiers inside the top 10
• Quito Tenis y Golf Club played 0.890 strokes under par through three rounds; the hardest hole on the golf course is No. 6 – the 220-yard par 3 which averaged a +0.230