Spencer Levin shoots best round of the year to contend at Quicken Loans National
BETHESDA, Md. – After signing his scorecard following Saturday’s third round in the Quicken Loans National and retrieving his watch from the golf bag, Spencer Levin met up with a PGA Tour official who told him no less than five media outlets wanted one-on-one interviews.
“Is that OK?”
“It’s quite all right,” Levin said. “I’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
Putting his year of struggle behind him and giving no thought to the 10-shot deficit he faced at the start of his round, Levin shot his lowest round of the year and vaulted up the leaderboard at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. With six birdies and a lone bogey, Levin moved into third place after shooting the day's lowest round, a 5-under-par 65 to move to 5 under through 54 holes and well within striking distance of the leader David Lingmerth and second-place Daniel Summerhays.
“Best I’ve felt in a long time on the course,” he said.
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The rugged course didn’t get to Levin on this day, nor did the temps in the 90s or the 90-minute delay due to storms. He had birdied his last two holes before lightning and heavy rains halted play, but after returning to the course, he added his last birdie with a solid 14-foot putt on the 16th and made a nifty up-and-down for par from thick rough on the last.
Armed with a new putter, an Edel model featuring an insert his friend’s father manufactured, Levin made 130 feet of putts.
“That's probably more than I made all year combined,” said Levin, 33, who is ranked 369th in the world. “It was fun seeing some putts go in, made a couple long ones, which was nice. … If you're going to shoot 65, that's what you've got to do. I was really happy with the way I played and the way I rolled it.”
He hasn’t been happy much with how he’s played in a long time. Earlier this year he missed eight consecutive cuts and 11 of 14 in one stretch. His best finish this year is a for 31st in the Wells Fargo Championship. The winner of three events on the Canadian Tour is still searching for his first victory on the PGA Tour. He’s had chances in the past.
Just not any this year.
Until this Sunday, that is.
“It was the best round I've had all year by far,” Levin said. “It's been a tough year but the putts have been going in this week, which is obviously why I'm playing well. So that's what it's going to take tomorrow. I haven't been in this position for a long time. I've had some chances in the past to win, but I feel good. I'm mentally good. You know how it is on a Sunday out here. It's a hard golf course."
"The tournament starts tomorrow so I'm really looking forward to it. Whatever happens, happens. I've had a chance and have never won, so if I don't, it wouldn't be anything new. But I'm going to go out there with a different mindset, I'm going to try and make putts and see if I can't do it.”
In a departure to most every round he’s played this year, Levin was upbeat after this round. He gave a TV shout-out to his 10-month-old daughter, Skylar, and smiled and laughed and joked throughout each of the five interviews. And he had no problems looking back to his bad stretch of play this year.
“I got off to a really bad start. I just kept playing hard, man. Kept working at it. I mean, that's all you can do really, right?” he said.
“So it was tough. I was going through a hard stretch, I was down on myself, but that's part of this game. It's so hard, but hopefully I'm moving through it. I'm starting to drive it better and feeling better about my game and feeling better about myself, too.”