Josh Teater, Paul Barjon match third-round 64s to launch into Korn Ferry Tour Championship co-lead

NEWBURGH, Ind. – Josh Teater approached his putt on the 17th hole at Victoria National Golf Club. He gave a quick glance at the hole, struck his ball firmly, and watched it slowly trickle in. One putter raise and one par later, he was tied for the lead and projected to move inside the crucial top 30 at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance.

Thirty PGA TOUR cards will be awarded after the final round of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Teater earned his first TOUR card in 2010 after his maiden and lone win on the Korn Ferry Tour – the 2009 Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank – but has since ricocheted between both tours and is striving for a third PGA TOUR card.

Teater has made eight of 15 cuts and collected three top-10 finishes this season, including a narrow miss at the BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX in Greenville, South Carolina, where he fell second to rookie Adrien Dumont de Chassart in a playoff. At 44 years old, this could be one of his last shots for glory. The Kentucky native entered the week at No. 34 at the Points List and opened the tournament with back-to-back rounds of 71, but after his Round 3 performance is now projected to No. 7 on the Points List with a win.

"Obviously played well in Greenville, and then I continued to play well, just didn't see a whole lot of like fruit for my labor. In the past I think maybe I would have scrambled and tried something new, but I just tried to stick to the course," Teater said Saturday after his round.

He went on to explain how his close friend, University of Kentucky baseball coach Nick Mangione, has helped him find motivation on the course.

"Sometimes you come out here and like you get in these seven, eight weeks and you get kind of lazy maybe,” Teater said. “I mean, you go out to the course, you practice, you play, but there's nothing on the line. (Nick and I) went up to Columbus a little bit earlier than normal and played nine holes that Monday night. We had something on the line, you know? We made this thing called the 'good chain' and every day that's just what I'm trying to win."

Teater undoubtedly won the good chain Saturday. Despite an opening bogey, he rounded out his front nine with three birdies for a 2-under 34, then made an eagle on the par-4 12th and four more birdies for an 8-under 64.

Teater was paired with Paul Barjon, the 31-year-old Frenchman who also had a taste of TOUR, earning his card in the 2021-2022 season but falling back since. Barjon picked up his second career Korn Ferry Tour win at this season’s Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS in July. With a win, he is projected to move from No. 45 to No. 9 on the Points List.

Both players were 2 under heading into Round 3 and shot the low round of the day – by two – to now sit at 10 under.

Barjon explained how the two fed off each other's energy.

"Yeah, we both started OK and then I kind of turned it on in the middle of the round,” Barjon said. “Then after my fifth birdie in a row, I lost the tee on I think it was 13. I was like, man, I don't know if I recall losing the tee after five birdies in a row. Yeah, (Teater) told me he was just trying to keep up, and he did. So that was fun to battle it out all day, for sure."

Other players did not fare as well on the windy Saturday at Victoria National, one that saw immense volatility in the leaderboard. Mason Andersen, who held the lead throughout Rounds 1 and 2, saw his lead dissipate after a triple-bogey 7 at the par-4 14th and a pair of finishing bogeys. Second round co-leader Ben Kohles ended his bogey-free week immediately on the second hole and added two bogeys and a double bogey on the back nine, shooting a 75. Matt McCarty, who held a share of the lead at 10 under heading into the final hole, sunk two balls in the water to make a quadruple bogey and fall back.

So many treacherous players and holes are in the mix. But Teater is sticking to the game plan.

"I mean, obviously I feel like my game is still good enough to compete even though I'm almost twice as old as some of these guys,” Teater said. “All that experience could pay off. It has this year and looking forward to one more."

Things to Know

• Two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner David Kocher, who entered the week at No. 51 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, stands solo third at 8-under 208 following 2-under 70 Saturday; he currently projects to move to No. 38 on the Points List, but would project to move into the top 30 with a win

• Andersen, Barjon, Teater, and Wilson Furr (T4/--7) are the only players currently projected to move into the top 30 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List; the four players currently projected to fall out of the top 30 are No. 24 Jorge Fernández-Valdés (T59/+8), No. 26 Carter Jenkins (T50/+5), No. 28 Chase Seiffert (T24/-1), and No. 30 Jackson Suber (T53/+6)

• Upon conclusion of Sunday’s final round, players ranked Nos. 31-60 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List will earn an exemption to Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry, where 2024 PGA TOUR membership will be awarded to the top five finishers and ties

Final-round tee times will run from 7:13 a.m. through 9:25 a.m. local time off the first and 10th tees