Madison, MS – Daniel Summerhays waited out an hour-plus long rain delay before firing a birdie on his final hole to maintain a share of the lead at the Sanderson Farms Championship on Saturday.
Summerhays, who was one of six overnight leaders when play was suspended Friday night due to darkness and claimed the outright lead when he finished his second round Saturday morning, carded a 3-under 69 during his third round to stay on top of the leaderboard.
Nicholas Thompson tied the low round of the day at Annandale Golf Club with a 7-under 65 to meet Summerhays at 17-under-par 199.
Summerhays is seeking his first career win on the PGA Tour, while Thompson is trying to earn his second. Thompson's only other win came at the 2007 New Zealand PGA Championship.
"Hopefully it'll be a great day for the Thompson family," Thompson said about Sunday, as his sister Lexi currently sits three shots off the pace entering the final round of the LPGA's Marathon Classic.
Cameron Beckman and Chad Campbell also shot 65s to grab a share of third place with Woody Austin (67) and Kyle Reifers (67) at 15-under.
Brendon Todd (66), Vaughn Taylor (68) and Bill Lunde (68) are tied for seventh at 14-under 202.
Summerhays completed his second round Saturday morning with a 67 to hold a 4- stroke lead entering the third round, but tripped to a bogey at the second to fall to 13-under.
Austin then poured in his second straight birdie and third in his first five holes at the fifth to meet Summerhays atop the leaderboard, and continued to make it four gains in a row at the sixth and seventh to grab the outright lead at 15-under.
Summerhays followed with a birdie at the seventh to pull within a shot of the lead, but Austin regained his 2-stroke cushion with a birdie at the 10th.
Thompson, meanwhile, had raced up the leaderboard by countering an opening bogey with six birdies over an eight-hole stretch from the fourth to jump into second place at 15-under.
He was met there by Summerhays following his birdie at the ninth as well as Campbell, who had five birdies and an eagle over his first 16 holes to make it a three-way tie for second.
Campbell would par his final two holes to remain there.
After Austin kicked in a short birdie effort at the 13th to move two clear of the pack, there was a 2-stroke swing at the 14th as Austin tripped to a bogey while Thompson birdied the same hole to grab a share of the lead at 16-under.
Summerhays made it a three-way tie for the lead with a birdie at the 16th.
The trio of co-leaders was short-lived, however, as Austin lipped out a short par putt at the 18th to fall behind while Thompson, who was playing alongside Austin, converted his birdie effort to head into the clubhouse with the outright lead at 17-under.
"Normally, I'd say I'm pretty happy, but to finish the way I did was very disappointing," said Austin.
Summerhays, playing in the final group, followed a bit later and after sticking his third shot at the par-5 final hole on to the green, play was suspended for dangerous weather.
When play resumed an hour and 17 minutes later, Summerhays converted his 19- foot birdie effort to grab a share of the lead heading into the final round.
NOTES: Austin would be the seventh oldest winner in PGA Tour history at 49 years old ... The last three 54-hole leaders at the Sanderson have held on for the win, including Scott Stallings (2012), Chris Kirk (2011) and Bill Haas (2010) ... Summerhays does have a win on the Web.com Tour, capturing the 2007 Children's Hospital Invitational title ... Play lasted for just four minutes after the weather delay.
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