Keith Mitchell capped off his highlight-reel back-nine at the Valspar Championship by sinking a 151-foot approach for eagle to take the solo lead heading into the final round of the PGA Tour's final stop on the Florida swing. Mitchell shot a five-under 66 to hit the clubhouse at -10.

Mitchell birdied 16th and a par-3 17th in the run-up to his eagle. On No. 16, a monstrous par-4, Mitchell hit a zesty approach, then followed it up with an impressive putt.

“It was the first really good putt I’ve made all day of really substantial length,” he said. “I kinda gave myself a little fist pump there, to try to get some energy going, some momentum going.”

On No. 17, he placed his tee shot within three feet of the pin.

“That was one of the best shots I've hit all day. Kind of a tap-in putt.”

Then, on No. 18, he went pin-hunting with the seven-iron.

Something flew in Mitchell's eye right after contact, so he said he never actually saw the ball in the air.

“But when I hit it, I was pleased with the contact,” he said. “I just got to see the replay, it's pretty cool how it hopped in.”

Mitchell became the first player in the 25-year history of the Valspar Championship to navigate the Copperhead Course's treacherous “Snake Pit” — hole Nos. 16, 17, and 18, three of the most difficult in golf — at four-under.

 

After falling down the leaderboard with a one-0ver 37 on the front nine, Mitchell ended up tied for the low round of the day, with Lee Hodges (-5), thanks to a ridiculous score of 29 of his back-nine.

“Obviously, some luck involved in that, but the good thing is I executed all the shots I wanted to,” he said about his electric finish to the round. “That’s really all I could do. I could have hit those same shots, made three pars, and been just as happy.

“It's called the Snake Pit for a reason,” said Mitchell.

Mitchell, currently ranked No. 72 in the Official World Golf Rankings, has 25 top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour, including two in 2024: at the American Express in January and the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches earlier this month. He was 73rd at last week's Players Championship.

The 32-year-old's lone PGA Tour win came at Honda Classic (now the Cognizant) in 2019.

After Saturday's round, Mitchell revealed that he devoted an offseason meeting with his team to spotlighting his poor strokes gained approach numbers in recent seasons, and made approach and distance control his points of emphasis. It's paying dividends at Innibrook.

“I hate that it took this long, but it's better late than ever,” said Mitchell.

Seamus Power, Peter Malnati, and Mackenzie Hughes are two strokes back. Cameron Young, Chandler Phillips and Brendan Todd are lingering at -7.

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Major champions Justin Thomas, Lucas Glover, and Stewart Cink faded from contention on an eventful moving day in Palm Harbor.

Thomas and Cink, both of whom started at -6, plummeted down the leaderboard. Cink shot five-over for the day, while Thomas recorded a baffling eight-over 79 — tied for the worst round of the day (with Bronson Burgoon, in last place).

Thomas was let down by his putter, continuing an alarming trend of 2024. Thomas entered this week ranked 149th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting. Through three rounds, he's dead-last (by a wide margin) in the Valspar field in putting.

As CBS' Rick Gehman noted, Thomas' third round on Saturday was the worst putting round of his 13-year PGA Tour career. He hit 38 total putts and didn't make anything longer than a three-footer over the last 17 holes. Thomas was tied for the lead after his first hole on Saturday.

 

The winner of the Valspar will earn $1.5 million of the $8.4 million purse and 500 FedExCup points.