The Travelers Championship

Ben Curtis and Justin Rose are both off the green on 17, both at 11-under-par, both three shots behind the leaders. That final group began the day battling for the lead, two and five shots clear of the field. Now, they’re struggling to hang on to the top 10.

We’re staring down a three-man playoff. Not the three we’d have expected, but a three-man playoff.

What did Corey Pavin say about this being an old man’s course?

Justin Rose drowned his tee shot on 15 and made double bogey, leaving Scott Verplank and Pavin alone in the lead, in the clubhouse at 14-under-par 266. Whippersnapper Bubba Watson joined them a moment ago with a 6-foot birdie putt on 18; his tee shot hit the cart path and shot forward for a 396-yard drive.

Rose and Ben Curtis are two shots back with three to play.

Curtis (that drive went out of bounds) double-bogeyed 12 and Rose bogeyed, leaving Scott Verplank in the lead. He finished up a round of 6-under-par 64 to claim the lead at 14 under, one shot better than Chris Riley. Corey Pavin, Bubba Watson and Rose are all at 13.

Verplank, two weeks away from his 46th birthday, went into the day eight shots behind Rose. He leads by one.

Edit: (ahem) What’d that take, five seconds? Watson birdied 15 to tie Verplank.

Add a name from the back of the field to the tie at the top. Scott Verplank has two eagles on the back nine and joined Justin Rose (plus-2 today) and Ben Curtis at minus-14. Verplank is on 17, while the final pair is going to 12.

With no one running away with this, worth noting that Chris Riley is in the clubhouse at 13-under.

Edit: Verplank’s birdie putt hung on the lip at 17; he tapped in for par. Curtis and Rose, meanwhile, sprayed a couple of ugly drives on 12. This thing is wide open.

J.J. Henry birdied No. 9 to get back to 7-under-par for the tournament after bogeys on 1 and 7. As he started the day, he’s eight shots back, but that’s now T-35 instead of T-13.

Edit: No real run out of Henry. He birdied 11 and 13, but he was right of the green on 14 and made bogey to fall back to 8-under. That’s T-28 at the moment, seven behind Justin Rose, who’s under a tree on 10.

Things are getting a bit interesting here.

Justin Rose made a bogey on No. 3 and is now just a single shot ahead of Ben Curtis in the final round of the Travelers.

Padraig Harrington did bogey No. 16 to slip back to 12-under and now he’s in the fairway bunker on 17.

- Neill

Padraig Harrington just birdied No. 15, his seventh birdie of the day, and is at 13-under for the tournament.

He’s tied with Ben Curtis for second place at this point, three strokes behind leader Justin Rose.

We’re betting Harrington can’t win, but he might be able to post a number that will worry the leader(s) a bit.

- Neill

Not a great start for J.J. Henry, whose drive on 1 went into the left rough and set up a bogey. Our colleague Pat Pickens, who’s chasing Henry around, fills in the details on Twitter.