Persons up by 1 at Avenel
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Josh Persons carded a 1-under 69 on Saturday to take a 1-shot lead after three rounds of Neediest Kids Championship.
Persons, a Monday qualifier, completed 54 holes at 8-under-par 202. He will go for his first tour win on Sunday at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm.
Tom Hoge also had a 69 on Saturday, and he moved into second place at minus-7. Casey Wittenberg posted a 2-under 68 to climb into third at 6-under-par 204.
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Chris Wilson (67), Philip Pettitt, Jr. (68), Will Wilcox (69) and Alistair Presnell (70) are tied for fourth at minus-5.
Second-round leader David Lingmerth faltered to a 4-over 74 to slide into a share of eighth at 4-under-par 206.
Persons, who grew up in Fargo and played junior golf with Hoge, flew out of the gate with a quick start. He birdied the par-5 second and followed with birdies on the third and fourth. As he parred the next five holes, Persons moved into the lead at 10-under as Lingmerth struggled.
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"I hit three shots pretty close to the hole. After that, the conditions changed completely," Persons explained. "The wind was in the opposite direction."
Persons tripped to a bogey on the par-5 10th. He coughed up another stroke on the 15th to slip to minus-8. Persons parred the final three holes end alone in the lead.
"It's a lot like spring in Fargo, except we're playing a lot tougher golf course. It was brutal today. This course is tough enough as it is," Persons stated.
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Hoge had one birdie and 11 pars through 12 holes. He then wrapped bogeys at 13 and 15 around an eagle on the par-4 14th. Hoge closed with three straight pars.
"When we played high school golf in April or May, we had a lot of days when it was 40 degrees and 30 mile an hour wind, but not as difficult a golf course as this," Persons admitted. "We're both comfortable playing in this."
Lingmerth birdied the second and fourth to move into the lead at 10-under. His round came apart quickly from there.
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The Swede bogeyed the fifth, then double-bogeyed the par-4 sixth. After dropping another stroke on the seventh, Lingmerth stopped the bleeding with a birdie on the ninth.
Lingmerth gave that shot right back with a bogey on the ninth. Around the turn, he posted seven pars and two bogeys to slide four shots off the lead.
NOTES: Persons is making just his second Web.com Tour start...With bad weather in the forecast for Sunday, players will go off in threesomes from the first and 10th tees starting at 7:49 a.m. ET...Only 11 of the 67 players that made the cut broke par on Saturday.