North Oaks’ Frankie Capan III in final group Sunday at Zurich Classic, seeking first PGA Tour victory

Frankie Capan III opened his rookie season on the PGA Tour with a series of strong performances And then the success dried up And when things start to go bad on the top tour in men s pro golf it s complicated to turn the ship around Capan missed six straight cuts entering this week s Zurich Classic of New Orleans and was in need of a spark to get his season back on track He appears to have revealed that in the form of group golf at TPC Louisiana Capan and his partner Jake Knapp posted a -under round of in the third round of the tournament Saturday in Avondale Louisiana to move to -under on the week good for a tie for second The duo which will play in the final group in Sunday s final round is just three shots back of leaders Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin That group tees off at p m Central on Sunday Saturday s format was four-ball in which both players on the two-man squad play their own ball and the best total between the two on each hole is recorded for the number Capan birdied eight holes Saturday while Knapp had eight as the tandem tallied the best figure of the day We birdied a lot of opposite holes so that helped a lot Capan explained reporters I really think we both had a good chance on majority every hole and in a best ball it s nice to just have a lot of looks at it and I felt like we did a really good job of just kind of taking care of our own games and making a limited putts out there Saturday s round was likely the best the North Oaks product has played since he finished th at The American Express back in mid-January The year old has struggled with his driver in latest months Yet he reported Saturday he never felt his event was too far away I think that s the unique thing about golf is you could have one weird day or a couple bounces not go your way and think man I shot but it really didn t feel like I played that poorly I think for me it s just a matter of getting more experience Capan declared I invariably enjoyed learning from people older and more experienced than me so it s been great having Jake by my side and just kind of picking his brain and asking him a minimal things here and there and working on specific shots as well Sunday marks Capan s first time in the hunt to win a PGA Tour event And while the club format doesn t offer Official World Golf Rankings points there s a notable amount at stake The FedEx Cup points are essential If Capan and Knapp merely held their current position Capan would climb from th to th in the season-long standings But if the duo was to win Capan s career trajectory could be forever changed Not only would that equal a two-year PGA Tour exemption but Capan would also automatically be into all of the high-purse high-point Signature Events over the remainder of the season and earn a spot in next month s PGA Championship That s a lot to think about heading into Sunday s final round which features an alternate shot format in which Capan and Knapp will play the same ball and take turns taking strokes Thankfully for Capan he can lean upon Knapp who just won a PGA Tour event last season in Mexico I think at every level whether it s junior golf amateur golf Korn Ferry Tour now PGA Tour you want to just kind of get peaceful at every stage and I feel like I ve been able to do that better and better the last couple years Capan declared But having Jake by my side has been great He was helping me with a couple things on the range Friday even for several tee shots in the current era that I felt like really helped I feel like my encounter felt a lot more clean than it did the first couple rounds Just going to go work on a scant more things and be ready for Sunday