They were side-by-side all day, so it seemed natural to bring in Omaha’s favorite son on the Nationwide Tour, Scott Gutschewski, and Paul Claxton for interviews at the same time.
They ripped Champions Run for 9-under 62s, matching the tournament’s third-round scoring record, while posting their career bests on either the Nationwide or PGA Tours.
“I didn’t know I was doing it,” Claxton said. “Scott was shooting so well, I was just watching him.
“He played great today. He always does when we’re playing together. I inspire him, I think.”
They birdied the same hole four times and eagled the par-5 17th together.
“I knew we both were playing well,’’ Gutschewski said. “It seems like he birdied just about every hole on the back nine.”
At 16 under for 54 holes, they are in contention for the Cox Classic’s $130,500 first-place paycheck.
They were the leaders in the clubhouse Saturday for a long time, with former Texas A&M standout Martin Piller joining them at 16 under after the third 62 of the day.
The logjam at 16 under eventually grew to eight players until Kevin Chappell, with a birdie on 14, got to 17 under almost three hours after Claxton and Gutschewski finished.
Going into the final round Sunday, the duo are only one stroke off the lead shared by James Hahn and second-round co-leader Chappell.
Gutschewski had a bogey-free round of seven birdies and the eagle on 17.
“It seemed like I had the same putt over and over, 5 to 10 feet and maybe a half-cup break,” Gooch said.
In mid-round, he changed how he gripped the putter to keep the right hand from being overactive. Chancy, yes, he said, since he experimented with it on Wednesday, but worth the risk after he missed birdie putts of 5 and 6 feet in the first five holes.
“I was fired up,’’ he said, “when I was missing short putts.”
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