Weather: Mostly sunny. High of 64. Wind NW at 5-10 mph.

Third-Round Leaderboard

Pos.        Player                    R1           R2           R3           Total

T1            Nico Echavarria    68            72            66            206 (-7)

T1            Jacob Bridgeman 67            69            70            206 (-7)

T1            Viktor Hovland     70            67            69            206 (-7)

4              Ricky Castillo        67            72            68            207 (-6)

Leading Asian Scores

T5            Kevin Yu                 72            68            68            208 (-5)

T5            Ryo Hisatsune      71            66            71            208 (-5)

T11         Byeong Hun An    70            67            72            209 (-4) – Transcript attached

T24         Kaito Onishi          70            72            69            211 (-2)

54-hole Lead Notes

• Three 54-hole co-leaders is the most on TOUR this season and ties the most in Valspar Championship history (2013)

Nico Echavarria (T1/-7)

• Would earn his third PGA TOUR title in his 70th start; age on Sunday: 30 years, 7 months, 19 days
• PGA TOUR victories (2): 2023 Puerto Rico Open, 2024 Baycurrent Classic
• With a 5-under 66, one of three players with a bogey-free third round (others: Patrick Fishburn/66, Stephan Jaeger/69)
• Fourth career 54-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR; 2-for-3 converting to victory (most recent: 2024 Baycurrent Classic)
• Would become the first Colombian winner of the Valspar Championship and first international winner of the event since 2019 (Paul/Casey/England)
• Win would come in his third start at the Valspar Championship (MC/2023, MC/2024)
• Would be second top-10 finish in nine starts this season; lost in playoff to Nick Taylor at the Sony Open in Hawaii

Jacob Bridgeman (T1/-7)

• Would earn his first PGA TOUR title in his 40th start; age on Sunday: 25 years, 3 months, 17 days
• Would be the fifth first-time winner on TOUR this season and first since Karl Vilips (Puerto Rico Open)
• Would be the seventh player to earn his first TOUR title at the Valspar Championship (most recent: Taylor Moore/2023)

• Holds 54-hole lead/co-lead for first time on TOUR; previous-best position: T4 (twice; most recent: 2024 Sanderson Farms Championship/finished T11)
• 36-hole leader also held a share of the 18-hole co-lead; no first-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win this season
• Win would come in his second start at the event (MC/2024)
• Career-best result on TOUR: T2/2025 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches
• Finished No. 113 in the 2024 FedExCup Fall standings after posting five top-15 finishes
• Clemson product in his second season on TOUR after earning his PGA TOUR card for 2024 by finishing No. 14 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List in 2023

Viktor Hovland (T1/-7)

• Would earn his seventh PGA TOUR title in his 120th start; age on Sunday: 27 years, 6 months, 5 days
• Has two top-10s in 21 starts since last win at the 2023 TOUR Championship (3^rd/2024 PGA Championship, T2/2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship)
• Owns one top-10 in two starts at the Valspar Championship (T3/2021, T33/2022)
• Fifth career 54-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR; 3-for-4 converting to victory (most recent: 2023 TOUR Championship)
• Entered the week off three missed cuts and made his third cut of the season, but first in a tournament featuring a 36-hole cut (T36/The Sentry, T22/AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am)
• Would become the first Norwegian winner of the Valspar Championship and first international winner of the event since 2019 (Paul/Casey/England)

Justin Thomas (T5/-5)

• Records a 6-under 65, his career-best at the event in 29 rounds at Copperhead Course (previous: 66/2022/R1, R2, R3)
• 15-time PGA TOUR winner seeks his first victory since the 2022 PGA Championship (56 starts)
• Seven of his 15 victories have come when trailing through three rounds, including the last four:

Miscellaneous Notes

• PGA TOUR rookie Ricky Castillo (4^th/-6) is in search of his first PGA TOUR title in his 10th start (best: T15/2025 Farmers Insurance Open)
• Sam Ryder (T24/-2) aces the par-3 17th hole (5-iron) for his second hole-in-one in 209 starts on TOUR (2022 WM Phoenix Open/R3/No. 16); becomes the second player to record an ace on No. 17 at the Copperhead Course this week (Steven Fisk/R2).