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North Oaks’ Frankie Capan III cards a 62 to take lead heading into final day of Korn Ferry Tour event

jace frederick, pioneer press
·3 min read

Frankie Capan III keeps knocking on the door at Korn Ferry Tour events.

On Sunday, the North Oaks’ native will have another prime opportunity to kick it down.

Capan shot an 8-under round of 62 in the third round Saturday of the Visit Knoxville Open at Holston Hills Country Club in Tennessee to move to 15-under for the tournament and take a one-shot lead into Sunday’s final round. The margin is narrow — four golfers are at 14-under and 14 competitors are within four shots of Capan’s lead.

But he heads into Sunday likely brimming with confidence after birdieing seven of his first 14 holes Saturday.

“I felt pretty comfortable out there. You know, the last few days I’ve hit a lot of really nice shots. I think today I was able to get off to a hot start, which was great, and then was able to roll a few putts in, which kind of gave me a little bit of momentum kind of going into the final, I guess, six, seven, eight holes,” Capan told reporters after the round. “But yeah, the first two days I hit it really well, too, so it was nice to just get a few putts to drop today.”

The 24-year-old has logged three top-10s in his last four starts, and is primed to tally another Sunday. But the sights are likely set higher. A victory Sunday would likely move Capan up to No. 2 on the Korn Ferry Tour’s season-long points list. The top 30 at season’s end receive PGA Tour cards.

Capan said he believes in his abilities and has grown more comfortable with trusting his game. That trust is always put to the test when in contention on a Sunday.

“My game when I’m playing well, I have a good chance to win and just not really shying away from that and almost pouring into that,” Capan said. “You know, I played a lot of football as a kid and just trying to bring put some of that attitude that I had when I was playing football out there.”

The mission now is to reach the ball out and break the plane to earn Korn Ferry Tour victory No. 1, and inch closer to reaching golf’s highest competitive level.

“Golf’s a game, like I said, you have to stay patient and you have to, like we’re out there for a while, so you can’t get too aggressive, but at the same time like when I was playing football, to a degree I’m just trying to rip guys’ heads off. I think just bringing that into my game a little bit in terms of like respectfully, I know what I’m capable of doing in the game of golf and I think it’s fun when I feel like my game is trending in the right direction,” Capan said. “But I think just believing in myself and knowing that I can go out there and shoot 62 like I did today. Really not shying away from that, more just kind of pouring into that. I would say just getting a little more amped up’s been fun for me. Putting myself in situations and being in the hunt four out of the last five weeks is awesome.

“So I think just, you know, having the mindset that I just believe in myself, believe in what I’m doing and I feel like I have a better process kind of going about each tournament since we’ve gotten back to the States. So really just kind of pouring into that, and then once we press play, really just trying to get after it.”

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