Golfers with Colorado ties in the mix after third round at The Ascendant

It's a jam-packed leaderboard after the third round of The Ascendant at TPC Colorado in Berthoud and some local golfers will have a chance to make a move on Sunday.

Matt McCarty leads by three strokes over Cristobal Del Solar. McCarty is at 19-under after three rounds. The scoring record was broke last season at 20-under.

Cheyenne, Wyo. native Joshua Creel is seven shots out of the lead after a third-round 70. Creel was tied for the top spot after the front nine but a pace of play warning disrupted his rhythm and finished in a tie for ninth.

"We were cruising along just fine. Then they told us to speed up and it felt like we were sprinting the whole back nine," Creel, who has missed his last five cuts on the Korn Ferry Tour, but finished 34th at the PGA John Deere Classic last week, said. "That was frustrating but we are in as good of position going into Sunday as we ever have been."

Creel made two outstanding sand saves on holes 15 and 16 to keep his round going. On the 15th, his strong bunker shot led to a birdie while on the next hole he saved par from about 10 feet after another stellar sand play.

"Neither one of them would I like to have again," Creel said.

Another player with Colorado ties is University of Colorado golfer Jeremy Paul, who had it going early in the round as well, and was in a tie for second after he made a par at the par-3, 14th hole. But three bogeys in his final four holes derailed his round.

He came up short on a chip on the 15th that led to a bogey before finding the sand on the par-3, 16th hole that saw him drop another shot. A birdie on hole 17 seemed to get something going again, but a bad drive on the 18th stopped any momentum.

"I was feeling good with my chipping" Paul said about the 15th hole. "I got too aggressive and that is a mistake I can't make there."

Paul is nine shots back and in a tie for 21st place.

Air Force graduate Kyle Westmoreland struggled on Saturday with a 72 that dropped him to a tie for 40th at 8-under par.

The Ascendant

TPC Colorado

Matt McCarty 65-68-64-197

Cristobal Del Solar 66-68-66-200

Alistair Docherty 68-71-63-202

Mitchell Meissner 66-69-67-202

Joe Weiler 70-67-66-203

Zach Bauchou 69-67-67-203

Will Chandler 67-69-67-203

Brian Campbell 64-71-68-203

Matthew Riedel 71-69-64-204

Jackson Suber 68-70-66-204

Joshua Creel 67-67-70-204

Rick Lamb 65-69-70-204

Peter Kuest 68-65-71-204