I just stayed really patient and kept hitting good shot after good shot
On the sun-warmed greens of Myrtle Beach, Mark Hubbard finds himself one shot ahead of the field and one tournament away from a dream long deferred — his first PGA Tour victory and a berth in the PGA Championship. After 274 starts and years of learning to quiet the noise within, Hubbard's 7-under 64 was less a display of brilliance than a testament to hard-won patience. Behind him, a field of hungry competitors waits, and among them, Brooks Koepka — a man rebuilding his own story — lurks five shots back with a putter that has yet to catch fire.
- Hubbard birdied four of his last five holes Saturday, turning what could have been a forgettable round into a one-shot lead that feels earned rather than fortunate.
- The pressure is real: Kevin Roy sits just two shots back, and three players are bunched at three under par behind Hubbard, making Sunday's final round a genuine contest.
- Brooks Koepka, five shots off the pace, insists his ball-striking has been elite for months — the only question is whether his putter will finally cooperate in time.
- Hubbard has been here before: he held the 54-hole lead at the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship and finished tied for fifth, a ghost he will have to outrun on Sunday.
- His strategy is deliberate simplicity — trust the iron play, resist the urge to chase, and let patience do what aggression never could.
Mark Hubbard walked off the 18th green at Myrtle Beach on Saturday holding a one-shot lead and something rarer than a low score: genuine composure. His 7-under 64 was built on four birdies in his final five holes, a closing stretch that rewarded a week of disciplined ball control and, more importantly, a refusal to unravel when early opportunities slipped away.
Hubbard has been searching for his first PGA Tour win across 274 starts. His closest moment came in 2019 in Houston, where he finished second. The years since have taught him to recognize the frustration that once turned promising rounds into ordinary ones. This week, he said, felt different — his ball-striking among the best of his career, and his patience finally matching it. "I just stayed really patient," he said, speaking about himself with the candor of someone who knows exactly where he has failed before.
The field behind him is close enough to keep Sunday honest. Kevin Roy trails by two, while Brandt Snedeker, Mac Meissner, and Beau Hossler sit three back after Hossler opened his round with six birdies in seven holes. Five shots further back, Brooks Koepka — still finding his footing after returning from LIV Golf — believes his ball-striking gives him a path. His putter, he acknowledged, is the only variable left to solve.
Hubbard has held a 54-hole lead once before, at the 2022 Sanderson Farms Championship, and finished tied for fifth. He knows what Sunday pressure feels like. His plan is not to outrun the field with boldness, but to stay steady, keep trusting his irons, and let the round come to him — wisdom, it seems, that took the better part of a decade to fully learn.
Mark Hubbard stood on the 18th green at Myrtle Beach on Saturday afternoon with a one-shot lead and something he hadn't always possessed in his 274 PGA Tour starts: the kind of patience that turns a good round into a great one. His 7-under 64 came from four birdies in his final five holes, a stretch that felt less like luck and more like the payoff of a week spent trusting his swing.
Hubbard has been chasing a PGA Tour victory for a long time. His closest call came in 2019 at the Texas Children's Houston Open, when he finished second. That near-miss, and countless other tournaments where he'd let frustration creep in, had taught him something. This week, he said, felt different. His ball control was as sharp as he could remember—maybe the best of his entire career. But the middle of his round had left him with opportunities he couldn't quite convert. The old Mark Hubbard might have spiraled. Instead, he stayed steady, kept hitting quality iron shots, and waited for the putts to fall. They did, down the stretch.
"I think Mark a couple of weeks ago would have gotten pretty frustrated and turned a 64 into a 68," he said, speaking about himself in the third person with the clarity of someone who knows his own weaknesses. "I just stayed really patient."
Behind him, the field was close enough to matter. Kevin Roy sat two shots back after a 65. Three players—Brandt Snedeker, Mac Meissner, and Beau Hossler—were bunched at 13-under, three shots down. Hossler had opened his round with six birdies in seven holes before cooling off for a final 64. The tournament was far from decided.
Brooks Koepka, meanwhile, was five shots behind in a tie for eighth, but his tone suggested he wasn't out of it. Koepka has been searching for his footing since returning to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf, and this week represented his best chance at a win since that move. He'd started Saturday well outside the top 20, but a solid day had at least put him in position. His ball-striking, he said, had been excellent for the past three months. His driving was as good as it had ever been. The putter was the variable. "If I can continue to do what I did today as far as ball-striking, it's just a matter of getting that putter heated up," he said. The implication was clear: if his iron play held and his putting warmed up, he could still win.
This would be Hubbard's second time holding at least a share of the lead after 54 holes. In 2022 at the Sanderson Farms Championship, he'd held the lead and finished tied for fifth. He knew how the pressure felt. He also knew that golf could surprise you. "Someone could come out and shoot 60 tomorrow," he said, acknowledging the randomness of the sport. But he wasn't going to chase that possibility. His plan was simpler: keep hitting the iron shots that had carried him this far, stay out of his own way, and see what happened. For a player who had spent years fighting his own frustration, that sounded like wisdom earned the hard way. Sunday would tell whether it was enough.
Citações Notáveis
I think Mark a couple of weeks ago would have gotten pretty frustrated and turned a 64 into a 68. I just stayed really patient.— Mark Hubbard
If I can continue to do what I did today as far as ball-striking, it's just a matter of getting that putter heated up.— Brooks Koepka
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
What changed for Hubbard this week that let him stay patient instead of spiraling?
He said his ball control was exceptional—maybe the best of his career. But it wasn't the individual shots that mattered. It was that when things didn't go perfectly in the middle of the round, he didn't let frustration compound the problem. He just kept hitting good shots and trusted the putts would come.
He's been on tour 274 times and never won. Does that context make this moment feel different?
It has to. His best finish was a runner-up in 2019. You carry that weight. But he's also learned something from it—he knows what doesn't work. Getting angry, pressing, turning a 64 into a 68. This time he did the opposite.
Koepka is five shots back. Is that actually close, or is Hubbard's lead safer than it looks?
It's close enough to matter. Koepka's ball-striking has been excellent. If his putter gets hot, five shots disappears fast. But Hubbard isn't thinking about Koepka. He's thinking about his own irons, which is the right thing to focus on.
What does Hubbard mean when he says someone could shoot 60 tomorrow?
He's being realistic. Golf is unpredictable. A hot putter, a few breaks, and someone could have a historic round. He can't control that. All he can control is his own process—the iron shots, the patience, the discipline.
So the real story isn't about winning. It's about how he's learned to compete.
Exactly. The win would be the outcome. But what matters is that he's finally figured out how to stay steady when things get hard. That's the thing he's been missing for 274 starts.