From the third-to-last twosome, non-member and World No. 1305 Chris Naegel rallied late for a 4-under 34-33=67 in R3 of the John Deere Classic, dropping three spots to T6 on 14-under 199, five adrift of R1/R2/R3 leader J.T. Poston, who also shot 67.
The 39-year-old turned pro 14 years ago (2008) but is making just his sixth career PGA TOUR start. Three of those have been at the Deere, all as an open-qualifier, including his best finish thus far, a T50 on last visit in 2015 (71-67-72-68). The Missouri Baptist product, who opened with a pair of 66s, was 1-under today thru 13 holes (2 birdies, 1 bogey) and falling out of contention, but got back into the thick of it with a birdie-3 at 14 and an eagle-3 at 17 from 6'11". At the three-quarter mark, he’s totaled three eagles, T1 in that stat, and 13 birdies against five bogeys, and ranks 38th SG: Putting (0.800), lowlighted by a -0.359 SGP in R3, 2nd SG: Off-the-Tee (3.499), 2nd SG: Around (3.628), and 2nd SG: Tee-to-Green (9.228).