Fort Worth resident making run at Colonial championship

Playing on sponsors exemptions at the Dean & DeLuca Invitational, Fort Worth residents Martin Piller and Tom Hoge are poised to cash sizable paychecks heading into Sunday’s final round.

Piller is tied for fourth place, while Hoge is tied for 20th.

Piller posted a 2-under 68 for his third round, and is tied with Harris English and Kyle Reifers at 10-under 200 through 54 holes. The three players are two shots behind leader Jordan Spieth.

“I just wanted to get something under par and just keep hanging, and see where that fell,” said Piller, who played for Texas A&M and Duncanville High School. “It was fun. There was a lot of hoopla out there today, so it was fun to get in under par.”

Piller, who was paired with Spieth and Webb Simpson, navigated his way through an up-and-down round that included five birdies and three bogeys. But he gained two strokes on Spieth with a birdie on No. 18, while Spieth made bogey.

“Certainly, Jordan bogeying there on 18 and me birdieing, that helps because I was kind of losing ground there toward the end of the back nine,” Piller said. “Two was fine, but I didn’t want to be three or four. You don’t want to be anything chasing Jordan, as good as he is, but two is a lot better than four, for sure.”

Piller played 30 holes Saturday because he still had 12 second-round holes left after Friday’s 5 1/2 -hour rain delay.

“I’m exhausted. I’m glad the day’s over,” he said. “I’m not going to practice, I’m done. It was a long day. I’m putting my feet up. I’m going to watch some NBA tonight.”

Playing on the Web.com Tour last year, Piller accepts that very late or very early Thursday-Friday pairings are the norm.

“I’ve had to start and stop a lot of times this year,” Piller said.

For Hoge (rhymes with bogey), keeping the ball in the fairway was the key to Saturday’s 4-under 66. His 54-hole score is 206.

“The difference was hitting from the fairway finally,” said Hoge, a former TCU standout who hit 10 of 14 fairways after hitting 8 of 28 the first two rounds. “The first two days I was hitting from the rough, and it’s just tough.

“I started out hitting some good iron shots in there and really didn’t have to make that tough a putts. A couple of them were just tap-ins, a few from 10 feet or so, but just real nice iron shots.”

Hoge’s third-round effort moved him up 24 places in the standings.

“Hopefully Sunday’s the same kind of start again, hitting some fairways,” he said. “I was hitting it pretty good with my irons the first two days, but I was never in position to do so. So yes, hitting it in the fairway and keep making some putts like I was.”

This story was originally published May 28, 2016 at 9:05 PM with the headline "Fort Worth resident making run at Colonial championship."