Patrick Fishburn said one of the keys to his round of 63 at the 3M Open on Saturday was a drastic change he made in his game earlier this month.

“I completely changed the way I grip the putter,” the 32-year-old Fishburn said. “I changed putters. I changed the loft of the putter. I changed everything you can think of with putting. It’s made a big difference.

“I’ve been hitting it pretty solid the past few weeks, but the difference is making more putts.”

As for what particular problems he was having putting, he said the ball simply wasn’t going in the hole.

“My shoulders were too open, so I found ways to adjust that,” Fishburn said. “The way to square up the shoulders is to putt cross-handed, so that’s what I did.”

The 32-year-old Fishburn said his biggest putt on Saturday came on the par-5 12th hole.

“I hit two really good shots; (the second) landed in the middle of the green and went long,” he said. “I had a pretty easy chip, and I kind of chunked it and was left with a 20-footer on a par-5 where you need to make a birdie to keep it going.

“I feel like making that 20-footer kept me going, especially  after I made a bogey on the hole before.”

Now that his putting has caught up to the rest of his game, Fishburn feels he has a decent chance of picking up his first PGA Tour win — as long as he can post another low number on Sunday.

“You’ve got to find the fairways out here,” Fishburn said. “If you don’t you’re going to be in trouble. I put the ball in the fairway a lot, and I had a lot of good looks. Even the putts I missed I felt like I rolled it really well.”

On the mend

Third-round leader Jonattan Vegas is playing on a Major Medical Extension this season due to surgeries on his right shoulder and right elbow that limited him to seven starts in the 2022-23 season.

“It’s not 100 percent, it’s never going to be 100 percent,” Vegas said. “Anytime you have surgery, especially two surgeries in one arm, it’s never fun. So still dealing with it, but obviously slowly getting better, which is nice to feel.”

Golden oldie

A win by 46-year-old Matt Kuchar would make him the oldest player to win on the Tour since Phil Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship at 50 years, 11 months and 7 days.

Kuchar’s last Tour victory came over five years ago.

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