Will this week finish the same way that it did last week? After the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, it is certainly shaping up to be that way.
Spencer Levin shot a third round score of 68 to put him six shots ahead of Webb Simpson heading into the final round. His only mistake on Saturday came at the 15th hole, where he hit it in the water off the tee and ended up making bogey. Other than that though Levin was pretty solid all day, and he could have gone much lower if a few putts had gone in instead of rimming the edges.
Will a final round collapse happen for two weeks in a row? To recall, Kyle Stanley last week had a seven shot lead heading into the final round but buckled under the pressure with a 74, losing in a playoff to Brandt Snedeker. Both Stanley and Levin have not won on the PGA Tour to this point, although Levin has more experience on the Tour.
I doubt Levin will collapse for this week's final round, for two reasons. First, he has been putting great all week and it is not as much of a weakness for him as it is for Kyle Stanley. Combine great putting with over 80% of greens in regulation, and Levin has a formula for success that should enable him to have an easy win on Sunday.
The only real concern for Levin should be his competition right behind him; Webb Simpson is in second and Bubba Watson is in third. Both players have experience winning golf tournaments and both can go low at any tournament, so if anything, one of the two could go very low and put enough pressure on Levin for him to choke it away like Stanley did.
Ryan Kekoufski is a scratch golfer who has both played and watched the sport for over a decade. He covers sports for the Yahoo! Contributor Network, and currently resides in Virginia. Follow him on Twitter @RyanKekoufski.
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