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After three days of intense, tough golf at the 2020 Genesis Invitational, three players with a combined 40 wins on the PGA Tour are tied atop the leaderboard going into Sunday's finale. Adam Scott, Rory McIlroy and Matt Kuchar -- getting it done in totally different ways -- all sit at 10-under 203 after Saturday's festivities.
That trio has not pulled away from the pack, however, as there are seven golfers -- including Dustin Johnson -- within three shots of the leaders and a couple other big names lurking just behind them. Spoiler alert: Tiger Woods is not one of them.
Let's take a look at what went down in Round 3.
First place -- Rory McIlroy, Matt Kuchar, Adam Scott (-10): What a board! After Kuchar coughed up his 36-hole lead on the back nine on Saturday, it looked as if McIlroy would hold it outright going into Sunday. Then Scott birdied the last to touch off a 64-67 heater he's been on over the past two days, and McIlroy couldn't pick up a stroke on the easy par-5 17th. He parred the last four holes to shoot a 68 and stay at 10 under. Meanwhile, Kuchar saved a back nine that was starting to fade with a long birdie on No. 17 to give us a mega-compelling final trio for Sunday. Stat to beware of when it comes to this final group: Scott and McIlroy are both top five in strokes gained from tee to green while Kuchar is 29th and at times feels like he's holding things together with bubble gum, baling wire and a sweet short game.
Other contenders of note -- Dustin Johnson (-8): He's the only big name within striking distance of our leaders. His last 11 holes on Saturday were ludicrous, and he's already a two-time champ on this course. I don't think he'll overcome all three guys, but it's definitely in play.
What did Tiger Woods do? Only three golfers shot worse than Tiger's 76 on Saturday. He lost five (!) strokes to the field with his putter in Round 3, and that included three holes of three (or more) putts. It can't get much worse for Big Cat on Sunday as he noted after his round that he's glad he's not playing in the WGC-Mexico Championship next week.
Who had a great day? Ladies and gentlemen, this is why you always claw to make the cut on Friday. Hideki Matsuyama got in on the number and went out and posted a 7-under 64 to get inside the top 11 on the leaderboard with an outside shot at contending on Sunday. He played the back nine first and played his first 11 holes in 7 under. It was even par from there, but he's definitely in it in a way he definitely wasn't 24 hours ago.
One and done: I'll only include this segment when my guy is playing well, and wouldn't you know it my guy this week is Scott. I'm lingering in the middle of the pack in my league after Gary Woodland killed me at the Farmers Insurance Open a few weeks ago, so a Scott top-three would be monstrous this week.
The favorite: At the end of Saturday's third round, McIlroy was the +150 favorite to win. Scott sits at +350, Kuchar at +550 and Johnson at +700. Only Russell Henley was even close to that at +1600. Data Golf gives Rory a 33 percent chance to win but says there's a 33 percent chance someone other than these three wins it.
Stat of the day: There's over $155 million in career PGA Tour earnings in this final group tomorrow. Nos. 7-9 on the all-time PGA Tour career earnings list. I bet the number of times three of the top 10 in career earnings have played a final round together is quite small.
What to watch on Day 4: It's McIlroy's tournament to lose, just like it's been for the first three days. If I'm Scott or Kuchar, I'm concerned that he was 55th in the field in putting on Saturday because that's probably not going to happen two days in a row. For the second year in a row, McIlroy has a great look at one of the premiere non-majors on the PGA Tour and a chance to add to his total of 18 career wins. It would be a nice (most recent) first week as the No. 1 player in the world.
