There's golf carnage at 'Bear Trap' as leaders tumble with big numbers

When the players in the Cognizant Classic were complaining that PGA National, renowned for its difficulty and “Bear Trap” closing holes were going too easy on them—and they had their proof when Jake Knapp opened the tournament with a 59—they should have known they were testing karma. Veteran Billy Horschel, citing the benign rough and no wind, deserved to draw daggers for stares in the locker room when he said on Thursday, "It is a little disappointing that I'd say the condition of the course is very scorable.”

Even early on Saturday, young pro Joe Highsmith blistered the course for a 64 and offered that it was “insane how easy it was” for the first round.

They should have bitten their tongues, because the Jack Nicklaus-designed “Bear Trap” holes of the 15th through 17th bit back hard on Day 3, wreaking havoc among a bunch of contenders and setting up what figures to be a wild Sunday, with 23(!) players five shots or closer to the solo 16-under lead of Knapp.

Knapp, who has scored 70-68 since he recorded the 15th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history, was one of six players at the top of the leaderboard who got through the “Trap” relatively unscathed, with that group shooting a combined three under over the three holes. That compares to the entire field playing 15-17 in 13 over par, with nine balls being rinsed.

The outlier in the top seven was Taylor Montgomery, who shot four over for ONE HOLE when he found water and then rocks and had to take two penalty drops to make a 7 at the par-3 15th. Montgomery’s experience was particularly exasperating, because after he put his original tee shot into the water, he dropped at 90 yards, and though his ball initially found land, it rolled back into an unplayable lie in the rocks that front the green. Montgomery had to use the drop zone again, finally got onto the green and two-putted for a quad.

Explaining his troubles on the hole, Montgomery, who shot 68 and is three off the lead, said, "I've been struggling with right pins pretty much my whole life. I'm not a very good fader of the ball. I typically fade it, but it feels like a draw to me. Obviously trying to fade it there on 15, and just ... you let your mind up in this game for one second, and it can bite you.

"Shoulders start getting laid open when I'm trying to fade it, and it started to do that later in the day, got a little steep, and hopefully bounce back tomorrow."

Two other players arrived at 15 with the lead and left the green having lost it. Jesper Svensson managed to clear the water with his tee shot, but ended up in the back bunker, and from there he hit into the water for an eventual triple-bogey 6. (The Swede also found the water at 18, made a bogey and dropped all the way into a tie for 24th.) Michael Kim made the most impressive recovery, taking off his socks and shoes to blast out of the mud and save a bogey. A birdie at 18 for a 67 put the one-time tour winner alone in second, one shot back.

"I thought it was a decent swing but the wind pushed it over way more than I thought," Kim said of 15. "When it hit the rocks, I was kind of waiting for a splash. Went long, and the volunteers made this weird signal that I had no idea what they were saying. But [on-course reporter] Smylie [Kaufman] kind of said, 'you should take a look at least.' So went over there, I was pleasantly surprised at the lie, was able to just knock something on the green and two-putt, get away with bogey."

The best finish in the lead pack? That belonged to Russell Henley, the only player in the third round to birdie the last three holes in shooting 66.

If he knows what’s best, he won’t utter a word about how easy it was out there.