Victoria鈥檚 Jim Rutledge is closing in on a return to PGA Tour Champions.
Rutledge capped a stellar back nine with a birdie on the final hole of his third round on Thursday to take a one-shot lead at 4-under entering today鈥檚 final round at the PGA Tour Champions final qualifying tournament at TPC Tampa Bay.
The top five finishers earn full playing privileges for the 2019 season.
Tied for second at 3-under are Mark Walker of Hurst, Texas, and Cliff Kresge of Kingsport, Tennessee, while Stephen Leaney of Perth, Australia, sits in fourth place. Five players are tied for the fifth and final fully exempt spot.
Rutledge, who plays out of Uplands Golf Club, spent the first 20 years of his career playing in Asia in the winter and the Canadian Tour the remainder of the year. Rutledge owns nine professional wins including six Canadian Tour wins, which he attributes to his three consistent rounds (70-71-68) this week at TPC Tampa Bay.
鈥淏eing Canadian is helping me out a lot. We [referring to his wife who caddies for him] came from this kind of weather the last few weeks. We practised really hard at home and down in Nevada it was no different. It was cold down there and we managed to get through it,鈥� Rutledge said in a statement after finishing his back nine in 32 en route to his 68.
鈥淭omorrow I am just going to keep plugging away because you never know what is going to happen with five spots in this thing. You can never really get too far ahead.鈥�
Rutledge is no stranger to PGA Tour Champions Q-School as he is competing in his 10th final stage in his career. Rutledge has 115 starts on PGA Tour Champions and holds six finishes in the top-10. His last start on the tour came in Victoria at the 2017 Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship.
