An extended suspension of play Sunday threw a wrinkle into the final round of the 2024 Cognizant Classic at PGA National. The final pairing of Shane Lowry and David Skinns completed just five holes and will come back to the par-71 layout Monday morning with Round 4 set to resume at 8 a.m. ET.
Fellow 54-hole leader, Austin Eckroat, has grabbed hold of the tournament lead, standing 15 under thanks to a couple birdies across his first seven holes. Erik Van Rooyen, who carded a final-round 63 to finish the tournament at 14 under, set the clubhouse lead and is likely to fall short given the number of birdies PGA National is yielding.
By the time the leading trio began their final rounds, Van Rooyen had already made a massive move early in his final round, turning in a 7-under 28. The two-time PGA Tour winner made six birdies in a row at one point -- matching a personal best -- and recorded the lowest nine-hole score on the PGA Tour this season tying Jake Knapp from the Mexico Open and Wyndham Clark from the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Both of those players went onto win their respective tournaments, but Van Rooyen's path to the winner's circle will be decidedly more difficult given he has no holes remaining.
"I've got no expectations," Van Rooyen said with a smile. "If I'm within two and those boys are walking up to 15th tee box, I'll be here."
The South African has since been leap frogged by Eckroat, who is searching for his first PGA Tour victory. The sophomore on Tour has been making a habit of playing himself into the weekend mix; he previously held a 54-hole lead at the 2023 Byron Nelson and 36-hole lead at this year's Sony Open.
While he was unable to convert those leads into victories, Eckroat has compiled experience which he plans to put to good use on Monday. As it stands, he was the only one of the three 54-hole leaders in red figures Sunday at 2 under as Skinns has dropped two shots in his first five holes and Lowry made bogey on the par-3 4th.
Here's a look at the top of the leaderboard entering the final day of the 2024 Cognizant Classic.
1. Austin Eckroat: -15 (7)
2. Erik Van Rooyen: -14 (F)
3. Jake Knapp: -13 (15)
T4. Keith Mitchell: -12 (F)
T4. Billy Horschel: -12 (17)
T4. Alex Noren: -12 (12)
T4. Shane Lowry: -12 (5)
T8. Tyson Alexander: -11 (F)
T8. Doug Ghim: -11 (F)
T8. Garrick Higgo: -11 (17)
T8. Nico Echavarria: -11 (13)
T8. Kevin Yu: -11 (8)
T8. Martin Laird: -11 (7)
T8. David Skinss: -11 (5)
