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golfweek.com photo: Tyler Duncan takes the lead with a 54 at the Safeway Open on Saturday at Silverado Resorts and Springs in Napa

By Jeremy Harness

 NAPA, Calif. – All the factors are there for a huge turnout for Sunday’s final round: A razor-thin lead at the top, and the ultra-popular Phil Mickelson near the top of the leaderboard with a real chance to win.

 As it stands right now, Tyler Duncan is the one that everyone else is chasing at the Safeway Open, the tournament held at Silverado Resort and Spa that officially kicks off the 2017-18 PGA Tour season, but it’s not by much.

Duncan entered Saturday’s third round leading by a single stroke over first-round leader Brendan Steele. After the first nine holes of Saturday’s third round, the two switched spots, as Steele played the first nine at one-under while Duncan dropped a shot. However, that would soon change. At the 11^th, Duncan made birdie while Steele could not get up and down after finding himself left of the green on the same hole.

 “I’m just looking forward to the opportunity,” said Duncan, a rookie on the PGA Tour this season. “To be here playing on Sunday is awesome, and I’m going to come out and give it my best.

 “I’m not sure it’s set in yet. I don’t know how well I’ll sleep tonight, and I’m sure I’ll be nervous tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to it.”

 As for Steele, he fell further behind the lead when he could not get up and down at the 18^th hole, moments after Duncan was able to accomplish that task, dropping him to 12-under overall and an even-par round of 72 on Saturday, as he is tied for third and trails by two shots.

Chesson Hadley, who burst onto the scene on Friday with a round of 61, picked up two more shots on Saturday and trails by only a shot after three rounds. The two will play together in the final group Sunday, at 12:30pm PST, along with Bud Cauley, who launched himself into a tie for second with a bogey-free round of 66 that featured three birdies on each side.

 “I’m very proud of the way I played today,” Hadley said. “It’s really just about staying in the hunt for tomorrow, and that’s where we are, which is great. I wouldn’t mind another 11-under round tomorrow (as was the case on Friday). If we can get greedy, that would be really nice.”

 Kevin Na, who lost in a playoff to Emiliano Grillo in this event two years ago, was also six-under on Saturday and gave himself at least an outside shot to win. Grillo himself stayed in the mix with a four-under 68 and is currently tied for fifth at 11-under overall.

 Of course, the excitement tends to build considerably any time Mickelson is anywhere near the lead with a realistic chance to win. After two consecutive rounds of 69, he picked up four more shots on Saturday for a round of 68, capping things off with a birdie at the par-5 18^th, much to the delight of the huge crowd of fans that followed him around the course. 

With an overall score of 10-under and tied for seventh, he will play two groups behind the leaders, at 12:10pm PST, along with recent Web.com Tour grad Andrew Putnam and Bill Haas, who won the season-ending FedEx Cup back in 2011.

 “I like the position I’m in, I just have to get off to a good start,” Mickelson said. “The greens are baking out. They’re much firmer, faster and very glossy. I think it’s going to be difficult to follow birdies.

 “So if I have a chance to make some birdies and force them to have to make birdies, I think it’s going to be a lot harder.”

AP Photo/Eric Risberg photo: Tyler Duncan takes a one stroke lead with a six under 66 at the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort and Spa on Friday

By Jeremy Harness

 NAPA–Tyler Duncan fought off a sluggish start to his second nine in Friday’s second round, seizing control of his game and ended up taking a one-stroke lead with a six-under 66 at the Safeway Open, held at Silverado Resort and Spa.

 He played a clean first nine at three-under and had a promising start to his second nine, making birdie at the first, but then started spiraling in the wrong direction with three consecutive bogeys and looked like he was going absolutely nowhere.

 That’s exactly when he started getting his game back on track, and he was able to keep the momentum going all the way through until he was at the top of the leaderboard with an overall score of 13-under.

 He birdied the fifth, and after settling for a par at the par-4 sixth, he birdied the seventh and eighth before dropping in an eagle at the par-5 ninth to take the lead by a single shot.

 In the process, he overtook first-day leader Brendan Steele, who had a solid round of five-under 67 with only one bogey on his scorecard on Friday and enters the weekend trailing by only one shot and a 12-under overall score.

 The defending champion played a bogey-free front nine that was highlighted by three birdies, and after dropping a shot at the 11^th, a long par-3, he got right back on the horse with consecutive birdies at the 12^th and 13^th before knocking down a 12-footer at the par-3 15^th.

 The round of the day – and the tournament, for that matter – belonged to Chesson Hadley, who made a huge charge on Friday with a tournament course record of 61.

 He birdied three of his first five holes and offset a bogey at the sixth with two more birdies and capping off the front nine with an eagle at the ninth. He never stopped the momentum, either, as he birdied five of the next seven holes and even had a chance for a 59 before parring out the next two holes.

 He is currently in third place at 11-under. Meanwhile, Zac Blair and Tony Finau are both tied for fourth at nine-under, with Finau shooting a 65 on Friday while Blair fired a 66.

photo courtesy golf.com: Brendan Steele had an eagle, six birdies and a bogey en route to an opening round of 65 at the Safeway Open on Thursday

By Jeremy Harness

 After a two-week offseason, the 2017-18 PGA Tour season is off and running, as of Thursday.

 The first stop of this campaign is none other than Northern California, for the Safeway Open, and there were plenty of players shooting low scores and vying for the lead at Silverado Golf Club.

 In fact, there were three players who claimed a share of the top spot after Thursday’s first round after shooting a seven-under 65, including defending champion Brendan Steele.

The only blemish on Steele’s scorecard on Thursday is a bogey at the par-4 sixth hole, but that followed an eagle at the par-5 fifth that saw him stuff his second shot from 200 yards out to just outside of two feet.

 He bounced right back three holes later with a birdie at the par-5 ninth and played a flawless back nine with back-to-back birdies at the 13^th and 14^th holes and running off three birdies in a row to close out his round in style.

Tyler Duncan had a fantastic start to his round, holing out his approach shot from 119 yards for an eagle at the par-4 10^th hole before birdieing holes 16 through 18, just as Steele did. Also as was the case with Steele, he suffered only one bogey on his round, his coming at the ninth, as he had trouble from within 70 yards and paid for it.

 Tom Hoge, meanwhile, played a clean round on Thursday, recording seven birdies without a single bogey on his card. He made most of his headway on his first nine, starting on the 10^th hole and knocking down six birdies on that side and joining the other two co-leaders with birdies at holes 16 through 18.

 His final birdie of the day came at the par-4 sixth, knocking down a 12-footer to do it.

 Right behind them are four more players sharing the fourth position at five-under, including 2015 champion Emiliano Grillo, who played a bogey-free round after five birdies on his first nine but did not make a single birdie on his second nine.