Duke ties round of day with 65, finds himself two back

After completing an impressive bogey-free 65 on a windy and dry Saturday at TPC River Highlands, Ken Duke was asked if he would be monitoring the scores over the course of the afternoon. At the time, Watson was 13-under for the week and had a commanding four-stroke lead over the field, and was five ahead of Duke.

"I've seen Bubba before," Duke said. "I know what he does. I gotta leave tomorrow night, so I'll probably do laundry and do whatever I gotta do. I doubt I'll watch any today."

If he had watched, he would've seen the 2012 Masters champion struggle down the stretch as the conditions toughened, bogeying three of his last seven holes en route to an even-par 70. That leaves Watson tied for the lead at 10-under with Graham DeLaet and Charley Hoffman, which means Duke (currently alone in 6th place) is only two strokes back heading into Sunday.

Duke has never won before on the PGA Tour, but has won twice on the Web.com Tour and finished second three times on the PGA Tour. Last February, the veteran from Arkansas played in the final group on Sunday at Pebble Beach but ultimately faded to a 74 and finished T7.

This year, Duke has played solid but unspectacular golf, making 8 of 18 cuts with four top-25 finishes, and currently 95th in the FedEx Cup standings with over $500,000 in earnings. Happy with the way he is hitting the ball this week, Duke anticipates not needing to work too hard on his game as he prepares for Sunday.

"My ball striking is doing good," Duke said. "My driving, I drove it great the last two days. That's what I needed to do after the first day, and that's what I've done. I thought I could get like three or four more (birdies), but I'll take what I have, and it's always good to move up on Saturday."

Duke teed off on Saturday at 11:30 a.m., nearly two and a half hours before the leaders, and took advantage before the conditions toughened - of the final six pairings, only two players managed to break par.

He won't have that luxury on Sunday, playing in the third-to-last group with Nick O'Hern.

"These greens are firming up," Duke said. "We've had some great weather here, and they're a little crusty. So it's gotta be perfect out there...But I'll take today and go into tomorrow."