Cole Anderson and Pierceson Coody share 54-hole lead at Live and Work in Maine Open

FALMOUTH, Maine – After three rounds played at Falmouth Country Club, two unforeseen players sit as co-leaders heading into Sunday’s final round of the Live and Work in Maine Open: 22-year-old Pierceson Coody, making his third professional start after ranking as the No. 1 player in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2022, and 21-year-old Cole Anderson, a native of Camden, Maine and current redshirt sophomore at Florida State University.

Coody entered the day as the outright 36-hole leader and a 4-under 67 Saturday kept him at the top of the leaderboard. Anderson, who is playing as a sponsor exemption this week in his first PGA TOUR-sanctioned event, earned a share of the lead after carding a bogey-free 7-under 64, the best round of the day by any player in the field.

It was hard to miss Anderson on the course as he had a following upwards of 200 people throughout the third round, full of friends, family and strangers who came to watch and support the two-time Maine Amateur champion (2019 and 2020).

“Mainers support Mainers, that's what we do, and it was just awesome to see so many people out here cheering me on, and not only cheering me on but cheering the event on as a whole,” Anderson said. “I haven't heard roars like that on a golf course before, outside of PGA TOUR golf. That was pretty cool to be part of.”

Through 11 holes played Saturday, Anderson was only at 2-under for the round via a pair of birdies on the sixth and seventh. His third birdie of the day came at the par-4 12th, before he rolled in four consecutive birdies on Nos. 14-17 and finished with a par on No. 18. His 7-under brought Anderson to 15-under for the week after carding matching 67s in the first two rounds.

“It felt a little surreal that I kept just hitting quality shot after quality shot, normally there's one or two swings where you make a bad move at it,” said Anderson. “I just felt comfortable over the ball and with my swing. I don't really have any swing thoughts at the moment. It's just stand up, look at the target and rip it.”

If Anderson were to pull out a victory this week, he’d become just the fourth amateur in Korn Ferry Tour history to win an event, joining Harris English (2011 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship), Russell Henley (2011 Stadion Classic) and Daniel Summerhays (2007 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship).

“I didn't have any expectations for the week. To be honest, the plan is to still not have any expectations tomorrow. I've said it every day, it's been working for me. The game plan is going to be to hit a nice 4-iron off the first tee tomorrow and go from there. At the end of five hours, we'll see where it adds up. It's been a crazy week and a ton of fun. I'm just excited to get to do it for one more day.”

Playing alongside Anderson in Sunday’s final pairing, Coody had a highly decorated amateur career of his own which includes being a member of the victorious 2021 Walker Cup and Palmer Cup teams, a 2020 Western Amateur title, three-time All-America honoree and the No. 1 spot in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Four weeks after leading the University of Texas to its fourth national title and finishing the season ranked No. 1 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2022, Coody is in position to chase his first professional win in just his third start.

Coody entered the third round as the solo leader and was 3-under through seven holes via a trio of birdies on Nos. 5-7, but the Texan stumbled in the middle of the round with three bogeys in a six-hole stretch (Nos. 8, 10 and 13). Coody bounced back by playing the final four holes at 3-under after birdying the 15th, 17th and 18th.

“It’s always been the goal,” Coody said when asked if he expected to be in the final group this early in his career. “Last week finishing T4 was a really big confidence booster. Norman (Xiong) played incredible and I was only two shots out of second place. I knew then that I could get it done. I knew I didn’t have my 100 percent last week, hopefully I show up with that tomorrow. It’s exciting.”

Final-round pairings will run from 6:40 a.m. through 12:20 p.m. local time off the first tee.