Bhavik Patel drops to tied second on Web.com Tour event

Halfway leader Bhavik Patel, who entered the third day of the United Leasing & Finance Championship on the Web.com Tour, found himself in trouble after two double bogeys on the back nine to lose the lead in the third round here.

Indian-American Patel was cruising along for the first 10 holes with nine pars and a bogey. From there, it was a roller coaster with double bogeys at No. 11 and 14, followed by birdies at No. 15 and 17, and then a bogey to close.

Despite a 2-over 74, Patel remains right there with 18 holes remaining, just one shot back in a tie for second at 8-under with Cody Gribble (68) and Sebastian Vazquez (70). The new leader was Adam Schenk, who started the third day five shots back. He was not even on the leaderboard until a birdie at the 14th hole. By the time he signed his card he had sole possession of the 54-hole lead for the first time in his career.

It would certainly be quite a story if the local boy, who lives just 30 minutes down the road in Vincennes, Indiana, could pull it off here at the United Leasing & Finance Championship in front of the home crowd following him.

The Web.com Tour rookie made a solid push towards that, finishing the back nine with a 4-under 32 to complete a 4-under 68 that vaulted him to the top of the leaderboard by a shot at 9-under-par. “Today I missed it in the wrong spots. Yesterday and Thursday I did a good job of missing it in the right spots and today I was penalized for that. Hopefully tomorrow we can go out there and hit the ball a little bit better,” Patel said.

Sebastian Vazquez followed up a course-record 63 with a 2-under 70 to get within one shot of the lead. Vazquez held the outright lead briefly after a birdie at the 14th but closed with bogeys on two of his last four holes to fall one shot back of Schenk.

Thirteen players enter the final round within three shots of Schenk’s lead.