BROOKSVILLE | Oscar Alvarez held his ground with a 1-under-par 71 Thursday during the third round of the Web.com Tour's second stage of Q-School at Southern Hills Plantation. Alvarez, who is being helped by tour caddie B.J. Pitzen, made three birdies and two bogeys to finish at 6-under-par 210 after three rounds. With one round to play, Alvarez sits in a tie for 20th place.
In spite of an untimely 3-putt on the par-3 third hole by missing a four-foot putt for par, Alvarez had back-to-back birdies on No. 4 and No. 5. The Columbian staked a 48 degree wedge to 5-feet to convert his birdie on the par-4 fourth and got up-and-down from in front of the green on the par-5 fifth hole for birdie. Alvarez turned went out in 35 strokes and bounded off the cart path on the par-4 No. 15 to get a good break, which resulted in a par. The 30-year old blew his subsequent drive on No. 16 right deep into the sawgrass lining the right side of the rough and proceeded to blast out his second shot with a 52 degree wedge advancing the ball almost 50 yards. Alvarez hit his 3-wood between the green-side bunkers but failed to convert the 12 foot par putt after a formidable chip shot. Alvarez closed out his round with a timely birdie on No. 18 after a hard-hit drive and a 5-iron from 197 yards to 18 feet.
Alvarez's playing partner Patrick Sheehan (68), who is a regular on the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour and has two Web.com Tour titles, putt with precison en route to a 4-under-par. Byeong-Hun An (73), the 2009 U.S. Amateur and youngest winner of the prestigious event at 17 years old and some change, dug himself into an early hole by firing 39 on the front nine before coming in with a 2-under 34. Sheehan rests at 9-under par 207 in a tie for eighth while An lost ground and is in a tie for 35th heading into the final round where the top-19 finishers and ties will advance to the tour finals in LaQuinta, California on Dec. 12-17 at PGA West.
Windy conditions gave the field of 76 competitors a formidable test as the scoring average was almost identical to Round 2, which was 70.97.
Pitzen, who toted his best single round score Tuesday as a caddie and is on track with Alvarez to turn in his best performance as a tour caddie, will be on the bag for the final round on Friday. Alvarez tees off No. 1 at 8:53 a.m. with playing partners David Skinns, of England, and Clearwater's Ryan Gildersleeve. Catch the leaderboard live on Friday from Brooksville as Pitzen tries to help Alvarez move on to the finals at the following web address: http://pgatq.bluegolf.com/blue