Kevin Dougherty maintains outright lead at LECOM Suncoast Classic

Things to Know

Kevin Dougherty, a four-time runner-up on the Korn Ferry Tour, follows career-low 9-under 62 with 3-under 68 Saturday to total 19-under 194 and break the 54-hole tournament scoring record, remains the outright leader

Bidding to become the 10th-oldest winner in Korn Ferry Tour history (established 1990), 46-year-old Scott Gutschewski cards low round of the day by two strokes with 9-under 62, moves to 18-under par and within one stroke of the lead

Making his 46th career start on the Korn Ferry Tour this week, Chase Seiffert posts third consecutive 6-under 65 to move within one stroke of the lead and stand T2, tying his career-high 54-hole position on Tour (2019 Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation/finished T4)

Three of the five players standing T4 or higher are past winners on the Korn Ferry Tour, and all three are multi-time winners – Tommy Gainey (three), Gutschewski (two), Ben Silverman (two)

Three of this year’s seven winners began the final round 4-6 strokes behind the 54-hole leader; there are nine players within four strokes of the lead, and 16 players within six strokes of the lead · Second-year Korn Ferry Tour member Mac Meissner follows Friday’s historic 12-under 59 with 2-under 69 Saturday and falls to 10th place on the leaderboard (down six places)

Final-round pairings will run from 7 a.m. through 12:40 p.m. off the first tee

Third-Round Lead Notes

2: Third-round leaders/co-leaders to win the LECOM Suncoast Classic (Hayden Buckley/2021 [shared lead, won in playoff]; Mark Hubbard/2019 [led by two, won by two])

2: Third-round leaders/co-leaders to win on Tour in 2023 (Ben Silverman/The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club [led by two strokes, won in playoff]; David Skinns/Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club [led by one stroke, won by one stroke])

Kevin Dougherty (1st/-19)

Seeking first career Korn Ferry Tour win after four runner-up finishes, including one earlier this season at the Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard

Holds a one-stroke lead at 19-under 194, breaking the 54-hole tournament scoring record of 195 set by Mark Hubbard, who went on to win the 2019 LECOM Suncoast Classic

Making 118th career Korn Ferry Tour start, holds first 54-hole lead on Tour; his previous career-high 54-hole position on Tour was second on three different occaions (T2/2023 Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard/finished 2nd; 2nd/2020 Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club/finished 2nd [lost in playoff]; T2/2019 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open Benefitting KU Wichita Pediatrics/finished T2 [lost in playoff])

Also stood T3 through 54 holes once and finished T3 (2019 Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank)

Cards three birdies (Nos. 4, 8, 9), his second eagle of the week (No. 10), and two bogeys (Nos. 7 and 17) en route to 3-under 68 in the third round

Boasts 21 total birdies (19 birdies, two eagles), the second-most total birdies in the field this week

Making fifth appearance at LECOM Suncoast Classic; his best finish was T26 in 2020

Entered week with two top-10s in six starts this season, including his fourth career runner-up finish

Finished in the top 75 of the Korn Ferry Tour Points List all four of his previous seasons on Tour (No. 26 in 2018, No. 33 in 2019, No. 74 in 2020-21, No. 42 in 2022)

Earned conditional Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2017 season with T113 finish at Final Stage of 2016 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament (made one start in 2017), but finished T42 at Final Stage in 2017 and set up his 2018 rookie season

Played the 2015 season on PGA TOUR Canada (eight missed cuts in 10 starts)

Murrieta, California native who turned professional out of Oklahoma State University in 2014

Scott Gutschewski (T2/-18)

Bidding to become the 10th-oldest winner in Korn Ferry Tour history (would be 46 years, 6 months 22 days)

With a win Sunday, would become the ninth winner of 46-plus years of age in Korn Ferry Tour history (most recent: Tag Ridings/2021 The Ascendant presented by Blue – 46 years, 10 months, 4 days), and earn the 11th win by a player of 46-plus years of age in Korn Ferry Tour history

Previous wins on Tour came at the 2003 Monterey Peninsula Classic and 2008 UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH

A win Sunday would mark the second-largest gap between Korn Ferry Tour wins in history (14 years, 10 months, 15 days), as his win at the 2008 UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH came on June 8, 2008

Bidding to join Ben Kohles as the second winner this season to end a drought of 10-plus years between Korn Ferry Tour victories, as Kohles went 10 years, 7 months, 28 days between wins at the 2012 Cox Classic and 2023 Astara Chile Classic

Cards bogey-freey 9-under 62 in round three Saturday with seven birdies (Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 14) and an eagle at the par-5 ninth

Making his 380th career PGA TOUR-sanctioned start and playing his 1,163rd TOUR-sanctioned round, posts fourth career round of 62 or better, with each of the previous three coming on the Korn Ferry Tour (9-under 61/2019 Ellie Mae Classic at TPC Stonebrae, Round 2; 9-under 62/2010 Cox Classic, Round 3; 9-under 62/2010 BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX, Round 2)

Stands T2 or higher through 54 holes for ninth time in 241st career start on the Korn Ferry Tour; his only win in those previous eight instances came at the 2003 Monterey Peninsula Classic (led by four strokes through 54 holes, won by four strokes)

Turned professional in 1999, played three consecutive seasons on the PGA TOUR from 2005-07, returned to the TOUR for the 2009, 2011, and 2021-22 seasons

Quotables

Kevin Dougherty on what he’s learned from previous experiences in contention during a final round… “Just continue to be patient out on the course, shot for shot. You can’t let one shot or one break or anything like that get us too far off track, because I’m playing well enough to continue to make birdies and play good.”

Dougherty on this being a tough course to protect a lead at… “I’m going to go out tomorrow and I’m going to try to play like I did Thursday, Friday, and today. Not going to put my heels in and put it on cruise control, because that’s definitely not the receipe for a champion and to win. I’m just going to go and pretty much work my plan that I’ve had the entire week and add them up at the end, and see how it goes.”

Scott Gutschewski on his goal for today’s round and how his weekend goals may have changed … “It’s the type of course where you can’t really protect. You’ve just got to keep making birdies. If you hit a couple good shots, you could have three or four eagle putts in the first 10 holes out here. That means even though you don’t always make birdie on those holes, you kind of feel like you should.”

Notes

Chase Seiffert (T2/-18) leads the field with 22 total birdies (all birdies) and ties the previous 54-hole tournament scoring record at 18-under 195, breaking 200 through 54 holes for the first time in his 117th career start across the PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour

Seiffert is seeking his first Korn Ferry Tour win; his career-high finish to date is T2/2019 Dormie Network Classic at Briggs Ranch

Ben Silverman (T4/-17) records second consecutive 5-under 66; he earned his second career Korn Ferry Tour win earlier this season at the 2023 The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club

Logan McAllister (T6/-16) and Chris Gotterup (T8/-15) played the 2021-22 season together at the University of Oklahoma and are currently roommates in Edmond, Oklahoma

Patrick Cover (T8/-15), the only player in the field without a bogey through the first 36 holes, opens his third round with a bogey-double bogey start, plays final four holes of the front nine in 4-under par (birdie, birdie, par, eagle), makes two birdies on the back nine (Nos. 10 and 14), and bogeys the 18th hole for 2-under 69

Tampa, Florida native and Korn Ferry Tour rookie Jackson Suber (T48/-8) falls 44 places after 4-over 75

Sarasota, Florida native and open qualifier Michael Visacki (66th/-2) logs 4-over 75, one of only 12 over-par rounds Saturday afternoon