CROMWELL, Conn. - For the first time in 11 years, Chez Reavie has a 54-hole lead in a PGA Tour event.
And it's a big one.
Reavie played the back nine at TPC River Highlands in a tournament-record-tying 7-under 28 to shoot a Saturday 63 and stake himself to a six-shot lead at the Travelers Championship.
Playing in the final pairing with overnight leader Zack Sucher , Reavie was six shots out of the lead when he made the turn. Nine holes later, he was six clear.
"You know, Zack got some tough breaks," Reavie said in an impressive undersell. "I was able to just keep plugging along and make a few putts. Yeah, the rest is history."
In a three-hole stretch, on Nos. 10-12, Reavie went birdie-birdie-birdie while Sucher went bogey-double-double. It was a nine-shot swing. From there, Reavie added birdies at 13, 15, 17 and 18 on his way into the clubhouse.
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Asked if he was shocked to be sitting in the media center sitting on a six-shot lead, Reavie didn't try to hide it.
"Yeah," he said, "definitely.
Just like that, Reavie has gone from pursuer to the pursued, and the Travelers Championship does not like 54-hole leaders. Just six have gone on to win this event since 2000. Just last year, Paul Casey gave up a four-shot lead.
This is only the second 54-hole lead of Reavie's career on the Korn Ferry and PGA tours. On both occasions, he converted, at the 2007 Knoxville Open and 2008 RBC Canadian Open.
Six-shot leads might seem like a lock, but they've been blown before on Tour - seven different times, in fact. Dustin Johnson was the most recent player to make unfortunate history at the 2017 WGC-HSBC Champions in China. Greg Norman's collapse at the 1996 Masters is the most famous example.
Asked to name the last time he was six ahead, Reavie didn't have to think about it very long.
"Never," he said. "Yeah, junior golf, maybe. Yeah."
He'll play with Keegan Bradley in the final pairing on Sunday and otherwise be chased by the likes of Sucher, Jason Day, Roberto Castro , Bryson DeChambeau , Kevin Tway , Tommy Fleetwood and Martin Laird.
But it's unlikely at this stage that any of them will be able to steal the Travelers on their own.
"Yeah, I mean, it's going to take a low one and some help from him," Bradley said.
And Reavie doesn't seem interested in helping.
"Tomorrow I'll be nervous, just as I was nervous today and nervous last week [at the U.S. Open]," Reavie said. "I think I've been in the heat a lot more the last few years, so I kind of know how to deal with my nerves a little bit better. …
"If I go out and shoot 5 or 6 under tomorrow, if someone catches me, they're going to play a hell of a round. That's my goal: Go shoot 5 or 6 under."
