Trace Crowe maintained his narrow lead at the Austin Championship in Texas on Nov 14, inching closer to his first PGA Tour win.

The 30-year-old Crowe shot a one-under 71 to get to 14 under for the tournament, which kept him one shot ahead of the field.

Needing to finish his final two holes from Round 2 to begin his day, Crowe went par-par to preserve his three-under round, which came on the heels of a career-low 62 in Round 1.

Crowe had a more up-and-down Round 3 at the Fazio Canyons Course at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa, with six birdies and five bogeys.

“That’s how it felt really, just up and down from the start,” Crowe said.

“Some tricky flags out there, a few putts that get away. I think the wind and the greens drying up really made it tricky. Yeah, the wind and the little cooler air, it was difficult.”

Crowe was a shot over following his bogey on the par-three 11th, but he did seem to gather his composure with three birdies over his final five holes. That left him in an enviable position going into final-round play.

“I’ve been doing this long enough to know that everyone’s really good and they’re just going to keep making birdies,” Crowe said.

“My mindset tomorrow is to go attack the day and see what it gives, but just try to play the best I can and hopefully it come out on top.”

The inaugural Austin Championship is the penultimate event of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Fall series. Players in the top 100 of the points race at the end of the fall will retain full-time Tour status, and Nos. 101-125 will receive conditional status for 2027.

Crowe entered the week at No. 117 in the fall standings and the live projection showed he would jump to No. 63 with a win.

His closest competition through three rounds is the trio of Chad Ramey (67), Finland’s Sami Valimaki (69) and South Africa’s Erik van Rooyen (69), all tied for second at 13 under.

Ramey’s six birdies gave him the best round of the bunch.

“I was in control of my ball tee to green, but probably more than anything I putted really nicely,” Ramey said.

“Made a lot of putts early, just kind of built the confidence and just kept feeding off of it.

Max Greyserman and Ben Kohles are tied for fifth at 12 under following matching 69s.

Eight players are at 11 under: Zac Blair (67), Austin Smotherman (67), Will Gordon (66), John VanDerLaan (69), Tommy Morrison (69), Rafael Campos (70), Norway’s Kristoffer Ventura (72) and Kevin Yu (73). REUTERS