Sam Stevens snares outright 54-hole lead at AdventHealth Championship

KANSAS CITY, Missouri – Following a third-round 7-under 65, Sam Stevens reached 15-under par for the week and took the outright 54-hole lead at the AdventHealth Championship. Stevens, a 25-year-old rookie, holds his first lead of any kind on the Korn Ferry Tour, as he will carry a one-stroke advantage over MJ Daffue and 36-hole leader Trevor Cone into Sunday’s final round.

One of six players who posted a bogey-free third round at Blue Hills Country Club, Stevens rolled in seven birdies en route to a 65, the lowest round recorded Saturday and tied for his career-low round in PGA TOUR-sanctioned play. Through 54 holes, Stevens has just three bogeys, tied for second fewest in the field.

Stevens’ day started at the par-5 first, where the Oklahoma State University alum opened with a birdie. Stevens added another at the sixth, and later a trio of par-4 birdies at Nos. 9-11. Two more birdies on the back nine (Nos. 13 and 17) bumped Sanders up the leaderboard and into contention for his first Korn Ferry Tour win.

“Obviously I haven't been leading or haven't been in this position yet this year, but I'm excited for tomorrow,” Stevens said. “I was pleased with the way I played. I was a little loose on maybe the last four, five holes, but that's all right, you're allowed to hit a bad shot from time to time.”

Making the 11th start of his rookie season, Stevens has four top-25s and six missed cuts. The Wichita, Kansas resident entered this week ranked 70th on the Regular Season Points List and fresh off back-to-back top-25s – a T17 at the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation, his best finish of the season, and a T24 at last week’s Visit Knoxville Open.

“I've been playing well all year, just maybe haven't been putting as well as I'd like to,” Stevens said. “I've been putting better the last two or three weeks, so I think that's definitely helped me kind of have a little bit more consistent game.”

Prior to joining the Korn Ferry Tour, Stevens gained experience playing on the All Pro Tour, winning six events and earning $203,692 across 26 starts dating back to the start of 2019.

Stevens earned Korn Ferry Tour membership for the first time via a No. 2 finish on the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Order of Merit, highlighted by a victory at the Holcim Colombia Classic presented by Volvo. With an exemption to Final Stage of the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament last November, Stevens logged four consecutive rounds in the 60s and finished T5 for guaranteed starts in the first 12 events this season. It was an experience Stevens can draw back on amid Sunday’s final round.

“Any time you're in contention, it's a similar feeling,” Stevens said. “I've been fortunate enough over the last couple years to be in contention a lot, whether it's in Latin America or on the mini tours or at Q-School last year. Sometimes I've gone out and I've played great when I'm in contention, and sometimes it hasn't gone my way, but I'm excited for tomorrow and ready to get out there and get after it.”

A third-generation professional golfer, his grandfather, Johnny, made 30 PGA TOUR starts (mostly across the 1968 and 1969 seasons), while his father, Charlie, played collegiately at University of Oklahoma and Texas Christian University before he made two Korn Ferry Tour starts in 1992. Stevens made his PGA TOUR debut this year after he Monday qualified into The Honda Classic in February; he made the cut and finished T55.

Stevens played collegiately at Oklahoma State University from 2014-18 and was a member of the 2018 NCAA Championship-winning team. While with the Cowboys, Stevens spent time as teammates with PGA TOUR winners Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff.

Stevens will have a crowd following him Sunday, as family members made the two-and-a-half hour trek from Wichita to Kansas City.

“My wife came up this week and our two boys came up earlier today, so it's been great to get to see family, especially when you're out of town for as long as some of the stretches we're on,” Stevens said. “That's been good, and it feels good to have people out there cheering you on.”

Final-round pairings will run from 6:50 a.m. through 1:10 p.m. local time off the first tee.