Stephan Jaeger breaks another Web.com Tour record
HAYWARD, Calif. (AP) - Stephan Jaeger broke yet another Web.com Tour record Saturday in the Ellie Mae Classic and shot a 6-under 64 at TPC Stonebrae to increase his lead to seven strokes.
Two days after opening with a 12-under 58 to break the Web.com mark and match the lowest score on a substantial tour, the 27-year-old German player reached 23-under 187 to break the tour's 54-hole record for strokes and fall one short of the mark for relation to par.
Jaeger broke the mark of 189 set by Martin Piller last year in his Boise Open victory. Jaeger was one off the par mark of 24 under set by Arjun Atwal in the 2008 Chattanooga Classic and matched by Tommy Gainey in the 2010 Chiquita Classic and Piller in Boise. On Friday, Jaeger broke the 36-hole mark at 123 and, at 17 under, was two strokes off the record for relation to par.
"There's one more. I guess I got to break the record for 72 holes," Jaeger said. "It's been a good week, it really has. I'm going to try to keep it going. The game plan doesn't change."
He would need to shoot 67 to break Steve Wheatcroft's 72-hole stroke record of 255 set in the 2011 Melwood Prince George's County Open, and 62 to top Daniel Chopra's mark for relation to par set in the 2004 Henrico County Open.
On Saturday, Jaeger played the three par-5 holes in 4 under with an eagle on the 15th and two birdies. On the 15th, he hit a 3-wood to 10 feet to set up the eagle putt.
"I got off to a good start today," Jaeger said. "I just played solid like I've done all week. You hit good golf shots and you get rewarded on this golf course, which is nice. Yeah, like I said, one in the books and we'll get another one tomorrow like that, and we'll be talking hopefully on Sunday afternoon."
Xander Schauffele and Matt Atkins were tied for second at 16 under. They each shot 64.
"We have to chase. It's obviously up to him, he can just run away if he likes," Schauffele said. "So just shoot as low as possible. Honestly it just takes pressure off of the field because he's so far ahead. So all we have to do is chase off of him."
Rhein Gibson and former University of California player Brandon Hagy each shot 67 to reach 15 under.
Jaeger's seven-stroke was one off the tour record for three rounds.
"Well, hopefully, It'll be more by the end of the day tomorrow," Jaeger said. "We're not going to rest on that. We're going to keep pressing forward."
Jaeger is 102nd on the money list, with the top 25 at end of the season earning PGA Tour cards. The winner Sunday will get $108,000.
The German came to the United States as a foreign exchange student in 2006. He went to high school for two years in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and played at Tennessee-Chattanooga, where he was a three-time Southern Conference player of the year.
Eric Axley and Keith Michell were 14 under after the best rounds of the day. Axley holed out from 150 yards with a 9-iron for eagle on the par-4 18th for a 60. Mitchell birdied the final three for a 61.
Stanford senior Maverick McNealy had a 78 to drop to 67th at 1 over. The top-ranked amateur in the world, he opened with rounds of 67 and 66.