SILVIS, Ill. - William Woods' Logan Smith fell to second place after shooting a 6-over par 77 Thursday in the third round of the NAIA men's golf national championships at TPC Deere Run.
Smith sits at 2-under par, with a 211 through three rounds, four strokes behind new leader, Morningside College's Corey Matthey. As a team, the Owls shot 300 in the third round and now sit at 52-over par in 13th place a day after shooting 292 and climbing to 11th place.
Smith's troubles started on the front nine after shooting seven pars, a birdie and a bogey on the back nine. Just like the back nine, Smith led off the front nine with a par but followed that with a bogey and two double bogeys. He finished his day with two more pars, two more bogeys and a birdie.
Jared Dymecki had a better day, moving up the leaderboard to a six-way tie for 13th after shooting 1-over par 72. Dymecki was tied for 28th place after day two. His day three started with a birdie and then two bogeys. He closed the back nine with a three pars, a birdie and a par.
Dymecki was able to limit the bogeys on the front nine, shooting one out of the nine holes. He collected five pars and three birdies.
Phillip Heller shot a 2-over par 73, 13 strokes better than his first round score. Heller had three bogeys on the back nine but also had five pars and a birdie on hole 16. His front nine started with a double-bogey followed by two birdies, and he ended his day with four pars, a birdie and a bogey.
Maxime Faure shot five strokes better than his score each of the last two days at 7-over par 78. His back nine consisted of four bogeys, three pars and two birdies. Faure's day got worse, however, after sinking a double-bogey and three straight bogeys to begin the front nine, closing his day with two pars, a birdie and another bogey.
Arron Patel added four more strokes to his previous day's score, shooting 85. Patel had a six-hole stretch on the back nine that included four bogeys and two double-bogeys, sinking two pars and another bogey to go along with that. He closed out his day on the front nine with a 5-over par, recording his only birdie of the round on the last hole.
The Owls will play the final round starting at 7:30 a.m. today.