Nelson Ledesma leads by one heading into Sunday at inaugural Bupa Championship

Nelson Ledesma carded an even-par 72 Saturday and took a one-stroke lead after 54 holes at the Bupa Championship at Tulum. Clay Feagler is second at 3-under, while Paul Chaplet is one of four players at 2-under after a 5-under 67.

Ledesma turned pro in 2007 and is making his 247th career PGA TOUR-sanctioned start, 97 of which came on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica. Ledesma’s best season in Latin America came in 2017, where he made 15 of 17 cuts and secured his first TOUR-sanctioned win at the 86 Abierto OSDE del Centro presentado por FiberCorp.

Ledesma has two career wins on the Korn Ferry Tour – the 2018 LECOM Suncoast Classic and the 2019 Ascendant presented by Blue – and earned his PGA TOUR card for the 2020-21 season. He has made six starts on Korn Ferry Tour this season as the 33-year-old seeks a return to the TOUR.

Final-round tee times begin at 8:10 a.m. and will run until 10:22 a.m. off the Nos. 1 and 10 tees on Sunday.

About Nelson Ledesma (1st/-4)

• Age: 33
• Birthplace: Tucuman, Argentina
• Residence: Tucuman, Argentina
• College: N/A
• Fortinet Cup (start of week): N/A
• Was introduced to golf as a caddie when he was 12 and turned professional four years later
• Favorite sport outside of golf is soccer. His favorite team is Argentine club River Plate
• Started his professional career on the Argentine National Professional Golf Tour, where he won the Order of Merit in 2014
• Cites fellow Argentinian, and 2008 Zurich Classic of New Orleans champion Andres Romero as his role model

Competition Notes

Course Setup: Par 72 / 7,272 yards; Cumulative average: 74.850

Weather: Mostly sunny with a high of 93. Wind from the NW at 5-10 mph with gusts up to 21 mph.

• The top player from Mexico is José de Jesús Rodríguez; he is T17 at 1-over after rounds of 68-71-78
• Four countries are represented in the top five and ties: Argentina (1), United States (3), China (1), Costa Rica (1)
• Paul Chaplet (T3/-2) carded the best round of the day at 5-under 67 and moved 32 spots up the leaderboard
• Eddy Lai (T17/+1) had the second-best round of the day, carding a 4-under 68, and is one of six Monday qualifiers who made the cut: Clay Feagler (2nd/-3), Garrett Barber (T17/+1), Patrick Flavin (T17/+1), Nicholas Infanti (30th/+3) and S.M. Lee (T62/+10)
• Hole 6 – the 432-yard par 4 – was the most challenging hole through 54 holes; averaging +.570 with 19 birdies carded
• The course is playing +2.850 strokes over par through 54 holes; the front nine played at +1.380, and the back played +1.470
• Third-round scoring average was 75.03, with 16 players finishing under par