World No. 322 Scott Brown twirled an 8-under-par 32-31=63 on Moving Day at the John Deere Classic to post 14-under 199, up 31 places to T3, two in arrears of leader Sebastian Munoz (67). (See link to post-round comments below).
Brown, who was in the first 3-ball off No. 1 tee this morning, records the round of the day and matches the low round of the week with six others. It vaults him into the penultimate twosome in R4 (with Adam Long), as he chases a second TOUR victory in 268 events. The 38-year-old’s first came at the opposite-field Puerto Rico Open in 2013 as a 54-hole co-leader in his second season, coming 242 starts and 8 years, 3 months ago this week. This is his first time this season in 26 events that he’s in the top 10 after three rounds, and the first since the inaugural 3M Open in 2019, where he was T9 before finishing T15 (68-65-68-69). On 12 (of 14) fairways and 13 greens in regulation, the Augusta, Georgia, native lost strokes off the tee (-0.261) and around (-0.727), but gained 2.817 approaching and posted a sterling 4.644 SG: Putting, No. 1 in the latter with a cumulative 8.643. His 9-birdie split featured four from between nine and 21 feet, missed a par-saver at 2 from 8'5", and saved par three times from between seven and 13 feet.