J.J. Spaun retains Memphis lead

GREGORY SHAMUS/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/ Getty Images via AFP

J.J. Spaun shot a 2-under 68 on Saturday to maintain a one-shot lead after three rounds of the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee.

Austria's Sepp Straka also fired a 68 and is in second place. Spaun sits at 13-under 197 after three trips around TPC Southwind.

Will Zalatoris roared up the leaderboard with a 5-under 65. He is tied with Trey Mullinax (66) and Australia's Cameron Smith (67) for third at 11 under.

Spaun had three birdies and one bogey as he chases his second career PGA crown. The San Diego State product won the Valero Open in April and now holds or shares a third-round lead for the third time in his career.

The 31-year-old didn't record his first birdie until the 11th hole. He later had birdies on holes 16 and 17. His bogey was on hole 10.

Spaun said he will have to play much better on Sunday to win the tournament.

"I know I've got to play better than I did today tomorrow," Spaun said. "You look at the names, I mean, those guys, major champions and multiple winners and you've got really hot golfers that are, you know, just playing really good. It's not going to be easy tomorrow and I don't think if I play like how I did today, like I don't think that will be enough.

"I'm just going to give it all I've got and hopefully make some more birdies than I did today and we'll see what happens after we add them up."

Straka, who missed six straight cuts prior to his success this week, had five birdies and three bogeys. The Austrian had a chance to be tied for the lead, but he missed a 9-foot par putt on hole 18 for a bogey.

"It was a lot of good, a lot of bad, but overall I'm pretty happy with it," Straka said of his round. "I hung in there nicely, got up and down a couple times when I needed to and yeah, I was able to convert the few birdies putts that I had."

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