2024 Byron Nelson Day 3, Saturday tee times and pairings

Jake Knapp’s second straight 7-under-par 64 thrust the 29-year-old on top of the leaderboard on Friday at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in McKinney, Texas.

Starting his round on the back nine at TPC Craig Ranch, Knapp rolled in four birdies on each side, finishing with a two-putt birdie at the par-5 ninth to get him to 14-under 128. That was enough for a one-shot lead over Troy Merritt, who fired a 9-under 62 Friday, and first-round leader Matt Wallace of England (66).

Kelly Kraft (66) is in fourth at 12 under and Keith Mitchell shot a 65 to join a tie for fifth at 11 under with Davis Riley (67) and Canada’s Taylor Pendrith (67).

A 30-footer for birdie at the par-4 16th launched a run of three straight birdies to close Knapp’s first nine. He rebounded from his only bogey of the day with a 32-foot birdie putt at the par-3 fourth to reclaim the lead.

“Early on in the year felt like I was putting well, and for the last month or so the stroke felt the same and ball wasn’t going in the hole,” Knapp said. “So just put a little bit more of a premium the last couple weeks on green reading. Yeah, nice to see a few more going in.”

Knapp, 29, is a PGA Tour rookie who broke through for an unlikely win at the Mexico Open in February. He tied for fourth the following week at the Cognizant Classic, but his results spiraled downward after that.

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“I think I just got a little tired,” Knapp said. “I think mentally it was just a lot going on, and I wouldn’t say necessarily life changing, just everything got busier and days got longer. It was just a bit of an adjustment. Didn’t feel like I had the same energy throughout the day in some of those weeks, which was kind of a bummer”.

Defending champion Jason Day of Australia posted a 70 in order to make the cut on the number at 6 under. Jordan Spieth, the Dallas hometown favorite and highest-ranked player in the field at No. 20, missed the cut at 4 under (68-70).

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CJ Cup Byron Nelson tee times for Saturday: Day 3 (ET)