WM Phoenix Open Round 3: Thomas Detry Turns Moving Day Into a Five-Shot Lead

Moving day at TPC Scottsdale is supposed to be chaos: the biggest crowd of the week, the loudest hole in golf and a leaderboard that reshuffles every 20 minutes. Thomas Detry treated it like a Tuesday practice round.

Detry shot a 6-under 65 on Saturday to reach 18-under 195 and open up a five-shot lead heading into the final round of the WM Phoenix Open. Jordan Spieth, Rasmus Højgaard, Daniel Berger and Michael Kim are tied for second at 13 under. Maverick McNealy, who posted the day's best round with a 63, sits alone in sixth at 12 under. Scottie Scheffler is eight back.

A Dream Start

Detry wasted no time turning a two-shot lead into something bigger. He made four birdies over his first five holes, starting with a 9-iron on the first that he stuck to a few feet.

"I felt a bit nervous on the first tee and I hit that 9-iron to two, three feet on the first hole," Detry said, per Golf Magic.

By the time the rest of the leaders settled in, the gap was growing. Detry finished with seven birdies against one bogey, and his 195 is a career low for 54 holes. "Getting off to such a good start was kind of the dream today," he said.

Saves That Mattered

The birdies grab the highlights, but the two pars might be what Detry remembers. On the par-5 13th, his tee shot ended up in the native area behind a small cactus, the kind of spot where a big number is always one swing away. He got it back to the fairway and saved par.

Then on the 18th, with the crowd at full volume, he drove into a bunker. Instead of giving one back to close the day, he rolled in a 19-foot par putt. Those two holes are the difference between a three-shot lead and a five-shot lead, and five feels a lot different when you are sleeping on it.

"It's all about how you deal with those emotions," Detry said, per the AP.

The Four-Way Chase

Second place is crowded, and every name in it has a different story.

Spieth shot a bogey-free 67 and has now gone 45 straight holes without a bogey. This is only his second event since offseason wrist surgery, and he is chasing his first TOUR win since 2022. He scrambled for par on 18 after trouble off the tee and with his second shot, and he sounded like someone pleasantly surprised by his own week. "This is certainly ahead of schedule for this week," Spieth said, per the AP.

Højgaard had the wildest card of the group. Højgaard shot 65 with an eagle on the 13th, gave two right back with a double bogey on the 15th, then closed with back-to-back birdies. That 200 is a career-best 54-hole total for the Dane.

Berger shot 66, with an eagle on the 15th and birdies on 16 and 18 to finish. Kim, the Friday 63 guy, shot 68 and is the only player in the field who has not made a bogey through three rounds.

McNealy's Charge

The low round belonged to McNealy, who made four straight birdies from the fifth through the eighth and shot 63 to jump into sixth. McNealy won his first TOUR title at the RSM Classic late last year, and he suddenly has a front-row seat for Sunday. He also had a take on the atmosphere after last year's out-of-control week.

"Previous years, it started to get a little out of hand, but right now it's in a sweet spot," McNealy said.

Robert MacIntyre matched Detry's 65 to climb to 11 under, alongside Taylor Moore and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. Scheffler closed with a birdie for 68 and is tied for 10th at 10 under, eight shots back. For the two-time champion of this event, it is a long way to go in 18 holes. Justin Thomas shot 70 and is nine back, and Alex Smalley, who started the day two behind Detry, slid back with a 73.

The Party Behaved

Saturday is traditionally the most crowded day of the week, and with highs in the 70s and wall-to-wall sunshine, the fans came out in force. Last year's tournament was a mess, with gates closed, alcohol sales limited and players like Billy Horschel and Zach Johnson yelling at unruly spectators. Organizers responded with more law enforcement, a new entrance, no any-day tickets and wider walkways. The 16th was as loud as ever, but nothing close to last year's chaos.

What Sunday Holds

Detry is chasing more than a trophy. A win would make him the first Belgian to win on the PGA TOUR. His only other 54-hole lead or co-lead came at last year's Texas Children's Houston Open, where he finished runner-up.

Five shots is a big cushion, but TPC Scottsdale has a back nine built for comebacks, with reachable par 5s at 13 and 15 and a drivable 17th. Detry knows it too. "They're all birdieable," he said of the closing stretch, per Golf Today.

The chasers have a real target and real history on their side. Spieth knows how to win big events, Scheffler has won here twice, and Berger, Højgaard and Kim have all shown they can go low this week. Detry has been the best player on the course for three days. Sunday asks him to do it one more time with everyone watching.

Revisit the week with our Round 1 and Round 2 recaps. Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 3 recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 3 recap and leaderboard), AP, Golf Today, Golf Magic, ESPN leaderboard. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.