Dufner Leads CareerBuilder Challenge

Jason Dufner holds a two-shot lead over fellow American Jamie Lovemark entering today’s final round of the $5.8 million CareerBuilder Challenge.

Canadian Adam Hadwin is in third, three shots behind Dufner, while David Lingmerth of Sweden is in fourth five shots behind Dufner.

Phil Mickelson and Kevin Na are among five golfers tied for fifth, six shots off the lead.

Dufner, Lovemark and Hadwin will play in the final threesome, which is scheduled to tee off at 11:05 a.m. from the first tee at the TPC Stadium Course.

Dufner had a one-shot lead over Lovemark when Saturday’s third round began, then shot an eight-under-par 64 at the La Quinta Country Club, with 10 birdies, including seven on the front nine. Dufner bogeyed the par-4 10th hole, where he began play for the round, and the par-three 15th.

Dufner said after he played his first nine holes, he told his caddy and his foursome’s two amateurs, “I’m about to do something good and it kind of happened.”

“When you start thinking like that, good things happen,” Dufner said.

The 38-year-old Dufner is at 23-under-par 193 for the tournament, its second-best 54-hole score since it was reduced to 72 holes in 2012. It had been 90 holes from its inception in 1960 as the Palm Springs Desert Golf Classic.

The tournament’s 54-hole record since 2012 is 189 by Patrick Reed in 2014.

Dufner’s 26 birdies are the most in the tournament. The 72-hole tournament record is 32 by Patrick Reed in 2014. The tournament

Dufner will seek his fourth career PGA Tour victory and first since the 2013 PGA Championship. He has not finished better than a tie for 12th in his six previous appearances in what is now the CareerBuilder Challenge.

Lovemark shot a bogey-free seven-under-par 65 on TPC Stadium Course on his 28th birthday.

“Any time you go out there and shoot seven-under it’s a good day, no matter what,” said Lovemark, a USC alumnus seeking his first PGA Tour victory. “I was pleased with the way I played the entire round and am in good position to compete for a win tomorrow.”

Lovemark said he planned to celebrate his birthday by joining his fiancee at a dinner with former President Bill Clinton and nine other couples. Clinton’s foundation is a sponsor of the tournament officially known as the CareerBuilder Challenge in partnership with the Clinton Foundation.

Defending champion Bill Haas who began Saturday’s play among five golfers tied for third, three shots behind Dufner, fell into a three-way tie for 10th, eight shots off the lead, after a three-under-par 69 at the TPC Stadium Course.

The field was reduced to 70, with the cut coming at nine-under-par 207. The lowest cut in 72-hole tournament history in 10-under-par 206 in 2013.

Following his round, Mickelson joined PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem and various dignitaries in honoring wounded heroes and military families at a military appreciation ceremony on the 18th green of the TPC Stadium Course as part of the tournament’s Patriot Day.

Mickelson announced the beginning of a yearlong fundraising and awareness campaign to mark the 10th anniversary of Birdies for the Brave, a military outreach initiative he founded in 2006.

John Hamaliuk of Cathedral City was announced as the winner of the PGA Tour Volunteer Challenge and was to present a $10,000 check to the Boys & Girls Club of Cathedral City Saturday night.

— City News Service.