Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, two of the most popular players on the PGA Tour, were paired together for the third straight day on Saturday at the Valspar Championship in Florida. The pairing didn’t work for either in the first two rounds, and they were the 12th group off the tee of the 29 in Round 3.
The crowds turned out for them in big numbers again on Saturday, and this time the players responded. Spieth started with three birdies in the first four holes. Thomas went eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie on a hot stretch from holes 11 to 14. They climbed the leaderboard quickly, with Thomas shooting a 65 and Spieth a 67.
When they finished Thomas was tied for second and Spieth tied for 13th, but the final twosome – tourney leader Jacob Bridgeman and second place Victor Hovland were just teeing off.
“Hopefully Keegan (U.S. Ryder Cup captain Bradley) was watching,’’ said Thomas. “We had a good best ball today. We obviously enjoyed each other’s company and are comfortable playing with each other….Definitely it makes it a lot better when you’re out a little early than you would like on a Saturday morning, but you can get the crowd into it. We made a couple putts that got the crowd going, and that’s fun for us.’’ (Photos by Joy Sarver and Pat Eastman).
