July 31, 2011

Stallings just one shot off lead into final round of Greenbrier Classic

Scott Stallings heads into Sunday's final round at the Greenbrier Classic just one shot out of the lead as he bids for his first PGA Tour victory. He tees of at 1:50 p.m. ET Sunday, with national television coverage on the CBS.

National TV coverage Sunday is on CBS from 2-5 p.m. CT

WHITE SULPHER SPRINGS, W.Va. -- For the second straight day, Scott Stallings toured the course bogey-free and his four-under Saturday lifted the former Tennessee Tech All-American to nine-under par overall, just one shot off the lead heading into Sunday's final round.

Stallings, who has placed in the Top 25 in six of his last eight tournaments this year, is bidding for his first career PGA Tour win and has played 42 consecutive holes without a bogey.

On Saturday, Stallings carded birdies on holes 3, 6, 12 and 17 while knocking down par on the other 14 holes for a 66. He entered the day tied for fourth place after shooting five-under 65 on Friday, following an even-par 70 on Thursday.

Anthony Kim leads the field at 10-under. Behind Stallings are Gary Woodland and Webb Simpson at eight-under. Stallings and Kim share the final tee time of the day Sunday at 1:50 p.m. ET.

"I played within myself," Stalling said of his surge to the top of the leaderboard. "I guess I did all the things that you're supposed to do: I kept the ball in play; I kept the ball below the hole; I hit it to the fat part of the greens when I didn't have a good angle, even though I really didn't want to.

"Hats off to my caddie," Stallings added. "He did an unbelievable job as far as just keeping me patient. You see all the low scores and, definitely when I had opportunities to make birdies, he did a great job as far as kind of pulling me back a little and making me play a little smarter.

"Yeah, it was really good day."

Sunday's final tee time puts Stallings in the tournament's final grouping for the first time on the PGA Tour.

"I played second to last group in Transitions in Tampa with Webb the week that Gary won," Stallings said. "So it's kind of funny to see all those names on the leaderboard. Kind of Eerily similar to Tampa with all the names that were up there.

Stallings, who was the OVC Player of the Year when he played for coach Bobby Nichols, ios enjoying his rookie season on the PGA Tour.

"To have an opportunity to play out here with the best players in the world is a dream come true every single day," he said. "It's my rookie year. I am kind of three-fourths of the way through, and I'm sitting there and just kind of pinching myself every single day to have the opportunity to play out here. I love it."

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Feature story about Stallings on PGAtour.com