Ninety Six, SC – Jesse Mueller and Scott Weatherly began the third round of the eGolf Tour's inaugural Grand Harbor Open in a tie for the 36-hole lead at 13-under 130. On a normal week in professional golf, posting a third-round 67 in that scenario would tend to create a gap atop the leaderboard – not at The Patriot Golf Club this week. Low scores are the norm on a Davis Love III design that has yielded a plethora of eagles and birdies through three rounds. Mueller and Weatherly, with matching 67s on Friday, will share the lead heading into Saturday's final round of the $235,000 event.

Mueller, who held the 18-hole lead by himself after a round of 61 at tournament co-host Star Fort Golf Club on Wednesday, is playing the first eGolf Tour event of his career after competing on the Nationwide Tour and out west in various Arizona mini tour events. The Mesa, AZ native and former Arizona State University standout is now poised to capture his first tour title with rounds of 61-69-67—197 on the week.

Playing in the day's final threesome alongside Canadian Christopher Ross, Mueller and Weatherly were able to feed off of each other throughout the day.

"We both played solid all day, hitting fairways and greens and making a few putts," said Mueller. "Overall, I'm happy with how I played despite a three-putt bogey on 18. I feel that I played well."

Mueller's three-putt at the par-4 18th dropped him back into a tie with Weatherly and offset what was otherwise a solid round. Birdies on Nos. 5 and 8 allowed him to turn at 2-under 34, and he would go on to add three more at 12, 13 and 14 to get to 5-under on the day and one shot clear of Weatherly. The closing bogey was easily blown off by the seemingly-laidback Mueller, who knew that Saturday's final round would have to include plenty of red in order to produce a win.

Scott Weatherly"One shot can be made up instantly out here, so you'll still have to go low – probably 4- or 5-under tomorrow to get it," Mueller said.

For Weatherly, a recent stretch of good play has continued this week at The Patriot. The former Auburn University golfer has rounds of 65-65-67 under his belt despite an errant driver that has bothered him for the last month.

"Same story as before, I'm still not getting it in the fairway. It's mainly the driver, but I seem to be getting it around just hitting good iron shots," said Weatherly, citing similar discussions and struggles with a left shot off the tee.

At the tour's last stop, Weatherly opened with a round of 61 before fighting his driver on the way to a T12 finish for the week.

Much like Mueller, Weatherly felt that playing alongside another good round and a future co-leader could only be taken as a positive.

"It's always nice when two people are playing well in the same group," said the Fort Payne, AL native. "You can kind of get in a groove out there and feed off of each other a bit."

If Weatherly did get in a groove, it clearly wasn't until the par-5 fifth. After playing his first four holes of the third round in 1-over par, Weatherly catapulted himself into the lead in a matter of 90 minutes with birdies on Nos. 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11. A slow start had quickly given way to a 4-under total through 11 holes, but that is where the hot stretch would end, with seven pars closing out what otherwise could have been a very low round.

While Mueller referenced 4- or 5-under being an appropriate target for the final round, Weatherly steered away from mentioning numbers.

"I don't like putting numbers in my head," he said. "I think if you do that and get to that number early, you wind up trying to stay at that number instead of going out and just playing golf."

Matt HughesIt would be hard to argue that anyone in the greater Greenwood, SC area has been more consistent this week than Matt Hughes of Dalton, GA. The former University of Alabama golfer has posted three consecutive rounds of 66 to sit at 16-under 198 through 54 holes, just one shot behind Mueller and Weatherly.

In his first full season on the eGolf Tour, Hughes is now three-for-three in cuts made following T21 and T67 finishes at the Championship at St. James and the River Hills Classic, respectively. On Friday, Hughes turned at a pedestrian 1-under 35 on a docile Patriot layout, but came alive on the inward nine with five birdies in his last seven holes. A closing nine of 5-under 31, hindered by a bogey at the par-3 17th, put Hughes in Saturday's final pairing with the two co-leaders.

Six-time eGolf Tour winner Roberto Castro, who already has one win this year at the Savannah Quarters Classic in February, posted a third-round 66 to move into solo fourth at 15-under 199 for the event.

Castro, a former Georgia Tech All-American from Alpharetta, GA, is three weeks removed from a runner-up finish at the Cowans Ford Open in Charlotte, NC. He was in a similar position then, trailing 54-hole leader (and eventual champion) Clint Jensen by three with 18 holes to play, but wound up three shots shy of the victor following a closing round of 69.

The round of the day came from Scotland's Russell Knox, who carded nine birdies on a steamy South Carolina Friday en route to a 7-under 64 to move from T25 to solo fifth on the week at 13-under 201. Knox, who captured the tour's season-opening Palmetto Hall Championship on Hilton Head Island, SC, could have posted an even lower number had it not been for untimely bogeys on Nos. 15 and 18.

Final-round play in the Grand Harbor Open will begin at 7:30 AM on Saturday morning at The Patriot, with players starting on Nos. 1 and 10 and playing in threesomes. The tournament is open to the public and free of charge.