Preston Stout leads as the Northeast Amateur heads into the 4th round

• High winds and challenging conditions led to high scores in the third round of the Northeast Amateur golf tournament.
• Preston Stout maintained a one-shot lead despite difficult conditions, finishing at 5-under.
• The cutline rose significantly to 10-over due to the challenging weather.

EAST PROVIDENCE – Wannamoisett Country Club – with some help from a fresh wind that blew throughout this sunny Friday – showed its sharp teeth during the third round of the 63rd annual Northeast Amateur.

Moving day on this occasion meant sliding backwards instead of piling up birdies and jumping ahead of the field. Survival was the goal with atypical gusts pushing 30 mph and no refuge in sight.

Just five players enter Saturday at even par or better, including leader Preston Stout. He retained a spot in the last group thanks to a one-shot edge at 5-under.

John Daly II and Miles Russell are firmly in contention at 4-under and 3-under, respectively. None of the field’s other 87 players completed 54 holes under par, and this marked what’s believed to be the first time since the event’s 1962 founding that no player managed to shoot an even-par 69 or better in a single round.

“It was really tough,” Stout said. “It was like a completely different golf course today.”

Stout made history on Thursday with a 61, tying the course and tournament records while playing in the morning wave. The standout at Oklahoma State didn’t make a birdie on his front nine on Friday and salvaged a 3-over 72 thanks to some gritty play over his last 11 holes.

“We play in that wind a lot in Oklahoma,” Stout said. “And still, golly, it’s hard. It makes golf a lot harder.”

Daly finished with consecutive birdies at the par-5 17th and par-4 18th to close with a 2-over 71. That’s the score he targeted over lunch with fellow competitor Jack Turner, as they both watched players with earlier tee times stagger their way through the challenging conditions. The field scoring averages of 70.02 on Wednesday and 70.39 on Thursday ballooned to 75.40 in the third round.

“I’ve kind of just done the same thing every day,” Daly said. “Just been very patient, hit it to the right spots on the greens and I’ve made some putts.”

Russell showed some advanced maturity after a difficult start that included two bogeys and a pair of double bogeys. The 16-year-old phenom was 6-over on the day walking to the fifth tee and proceeded to card just one more bogey the rest of the way. Russell added three birdies on the back side, including just the second of the day at the par-4 14th.

“On that fifth tee it was kind of like, ‘I’m just going to restart,’ ” Russell said. “Kind of just start fresh as if I started on hole 5. I played pretty darn good from there.”

Josiah Gilbert and Stewart Hagestad — two players with valuable experience here — carded matching 71s to sit at even par through three rounds. Gilbert finished tied for 12th last year, while Hagestad is making his seventh appearance at the event. The decorated mid-amateur is in position for what could be his best career finish here against teenage and college talent.

The day started with 21 players under par and another eight at even. It finished with just five holding the same distinction. Stewart Jolly won in 2014 at 2-under, the only player that year to break par over four days. Six champions have done so by double digits over the last decade, including a tournament record 19-under from Dylan Menante while strolling to the second of his two consecutive titles in 2022.

The cutline entering the day was set at 4-over and quickly started climbing. It finally settled at 10-over, with an 11-man group qualifying for Saturday’s fourth round on the number. Nine players carded an 80 or worse after just two such rounds through the opening two days — Matthew Troutman and William Sides shared best round of the day honors with a pair of 1-over 70s.

Defending champion Anthony Delisanti finished one shot inside at 9-over to earn himself 18 more holes while holding the title. Cooper Claycomb was the biggest mover among those who rallied from outside the line to reach the weekend, rising 34 spots thanks to a 2-over 71.

Stout and Daly will go off in Saturday’s final twosome at 12:12 p.m. Russell and Gilbert will be just ahead of that pair at 12:03 p.m. and Hagestad will join Harry Takis at 11:54 a.m. One of those six players could join past champions like PGA Tour winners Nick Dunlap (2023), Collin Morikawa (2017), Dustin Johnson (2007) and Anthony Kim (2004).

“I’ve got a one-shot cushion — I guess that helps,” Stout said. “But I think I’ll just kind of react like it’s another day. It’s another round of golf.”

bkoch@providencejournal.com

On X: @BillKoch25