Frankie Capan III keeps knocking on the door at Korn Ferry Tour events.

On Sunday, the North Oaks’ native will have another prime opportunity to kick it down.

Capan shot an 8-under round of 62 in the third round Saturday of the Visit Knoxville Open at Holston Hills Country Club in Tennessee to move to 15-under for the tournament and take a one-shot lead into Sunday’s final round. The margin is narrow — four golfers are at 14-under and 14 competitors are within four shots of Capan’s lead.

But he heads into Sunday likely brimming with confidence after birdieing seven of his first 14 holes Saturday.

“I felt pretty comfortable out there. You know, the last few days I’ve hit a lot of really nice shots. I think today I was able to get off to a hot start, which was great, and then was able to roll a few putts in, which kind of gave me a little bit of momentum kind of going into the final, I guess, six, seven, eight holes,” Capan told reporters after the round. “But yeah, the first two days I hit it really well, too, so it was nice to just get a few putts to drop today.”

The 24-year-old has logged three top-10s in his last four starts, and is primed to tally another Sunday. But the sights are likely set higher. A victory Sunday would likely move Capan up to No. 2 on the Korn Ferry Tour’s season-long points list. The top 30 at season’s end receive PGA Tour cards.

Capan said he believes in his abilities and has grown more comfortable with trusting his game. That trust is always put to the test when in contention on a Sunday.

“My game when I’m playing well, I have a good chance to win and just not really shying away from that and almost pouring into that,” Capan said. “You know, I played a lot of football as a kid and just trying to bring put some of that attitude that I had when I was playing football out there.”

The mission now is to reach the ball out and break the plane to earn Korn Ferry Tour victory No. 1, and inch closer to reaching golf’s highest competitive level.

“Golf’s a game, like I said, you have to stay patient and you have to, like we’re out there for a while, so you can’t get too aggressive, but at the same time like when I was playing football, to a degree I’m just trying to rip guys’ heads off. I think just bringing that into my game a little bit in terms of like respectfully, I know what I’m capable of doing in the game of golf and I think it’s fun when I feel like my game is trending in the right direction,” Capan said. “But I think just believing in myself and knowing that I can go out there and shoot 62 like I did today. Really not shying away from that, more just kind of pouring into that. I would say just getting a little more amped up’s been fun for me. Putting myself in situations and being in the hunt four out of the last five weeks is awesome.

“So I think just, you know, having the mindset that I just believe in myself, believe in what I’m doing and I feel like I have a better process kind of going about each tournament since we’ve gotten back to the States. So really just kind of pouring into that, and then once we press play, really just trying to get after it.”

Related Articles

Caleb VanArragon wins Twin Cities Open, his first professional event

Xander Schauffele wins PGA with final birdie putt

Scottie Scheffler arrested outside PGA Championship, then returns and climbs leaderboard

Gophers golf: Stillwater’s Ben Warian punches ticket to NCAA Championships

Gophers women’s golf: Isabella McCauley does it again, shooting 65 on final day of regionals to reach NCAA Championships

Maybe Kayla McBride getting called for a technical was the spark the Minnesota Lynx needed.

Whistled for voicing displeasure to an official, McBride drained back-to-back 3-pointers to help kickstart a 17-7 second-half Lynx run, and the Lynx went on to beat the New York Liberty 84-67 Saturday.

Kayla McBride (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs)

“I just wanted to be more aggressive,” said McBride, who finished with 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. “Last game (Thursday’s 83-82 overtime loss in Connecticut) we needed to do more to just take the game and I think we kind of had that same thing … to just go all out and be aggressive. That’s really all that was.”

She wasn’t alone.

Four Lynx starters scored in double figures. Napheesa Collier had her third double-double in four games with 15 points and 12 assists, Alanna Smith had 15 points, and Bridget Carleton scored 14 points starting in place of an injured Diamond Miller.

Coach Cheryl Reeve acknowledges the Lynx don’t have a “Big Three” or multiple MVP candidates like some teams, meaning a lack of selfishness is key to Lynx success. Minnesota finished with 26 assists on 32 baskets.

“For us it has to be by committee,” Reeve said. “We have really good players that are on this roster and doing it as a collective.”

Tied at 55 late in the third quarter, Minnesota outscored the Liberty 29-12 the rest of the way at Target Center.

Minnesota (3-1) shot 47.8%, while holding New York (4-2) to 38.2%, including 21.4% in the fourth. It was the fewest points scored by the Liberty since they had 64 on May 19, 2023.

“We had some lapses in the first half, so it was an emphasis at halftime to clog the paint, make things difficult for them at the point of screens, being physical,” Carleton said. “We knew we had to be physical with them, make things hard and make them make more than one play. … We were able to do that, especially in the second half of the fourth quarter.”

The Lynx also did it earlier on route to a 21-point lead in the second before New York was able to make it a game.

“I would say that the fourth quarter was more like the first quarter,” Reeve said. “We really committed to what we were trying to get done. We got away from it the second quarter, we were imploring them and third quarter to understand the path to be successful.”

Keyed with success from deep, the Lynx scored 20 straight points in a 25-2 surge between the first and second to go up 38-17 early in the second.

Minnesota was 7 for-11 on 3s in the opening quarter and finished 14 of 28. Four players had multiple 3-pointers, something that did not happen in a game last season.

Aided by seven Lynx turnovers that turned into 14 Liberty points, Breanna Stewart had eight points and Courtney Vandersloot added seven as part of the 23-6 run over the final six minutes of the second to get New York within 44-40 at intermission.

Minnesota started the day with a league-worst 20.7 turnovers per game, but had zero in the opening quarter, before committing nine in the second. It finished with 16.

Back from playing in Italy, center Dorka Juhász had four points and four rebounds in 17 minutes.

Minus Miller

Miller missed the first of what is expected to be many games with a right knee injury sustained Thursday in Connecticut. A Friday MRI showed the No. 2 pick in the 2023 WNBA Draft will be sidelined indefinitely.

“There’s a situation that she has to discuss with her doctor,” Reeve said.

Miller, who had right knee surgery in April 2022 at Maryland, had offseason meniscus surgery on her left knee which prevented her from playing overseas.

Related Articles

Lynx suffer first loss in overtime battle with undefeated Sun

Lynx’s Collier earns WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week

Lynx pull away in second overtime to beat Storm 102-93 and remain unbeaten

Lynx outscore Chicago in WNBA preseason opener

Reeve ready to see new-look Lynx in preseason opener

Alex Kirilloff had struggled at the major league level in the past, but not like this.

When he hasn’t hit, there’s always been a clear reason — and it’s always been directly tied to his health. It’s been his wrist, which twice had to be surgically repaired. Or, it’s been his shoulder, which required surgery, as well.

But he’s fully healthy now, so what gives?

“Everyone goes through those sorts of things. It doesn’t surprise me at all,” Kirilloff said. “It just kind of sucks when you’re going through it. It’s just like, I don’t know what’s going on. You’re mentally just tired of always just trying to think about it.”

He entered Saturday hitting just .114 with a .188 OBP and .318 slugging percentage in the month of May. But he’s been putting in plenty of early work and the past two days have offered plenty of signs that he’s turned the corner.

Kirilloff pulled a 400-foot home run to right field in Friday night’s win over the Rangers. Saturday, he followed that up by going 2 for 4 and crushing a three-run blast in the eighth inning to left-center to topple the Rangers once again.

“It’s a good feeling,” he said. “Any time you’re driving the ball to any part of the park, there’s some good things to take from that so being able to drive it to right field and left-center, it feels good.”

As he’s tried to change course, Kirilloff has been putting in a lot of extra early work. The goal of it has been simple, even if the actual process was not.

“Just trying to figure out what I’m doing wrong,” he said. “Just trying to hit better.”

There isn’t one thing he pinpointed. It was both his approach and his mechanics, he said. Usually he looks at his approach first, before diving into his mechanics to try to diagnose something there.

“It was like try to make adjustments, try to make adjustments and nothing seemed to work,” he said. “I just had to keep at it and really try to figure out what was going on. I feel better now and hitting and doing the early work on the field is just the time that I have to have some leeway and figure out what I need to do in the games. It’s always good to do that when you’re not feeling good.”

Now, he’s starting to feel a little better and the results are starting to follow.  It’s just a matter of putting it together consistently.

“I think the main thing is he’s always hit,” bench coach Jayce Tingler said. “He’s hit at every level. So for him, just to get the confidence of starting to get some hits. We think the swing is good, looking like he’s in a good spot and now hopefully the confidence builds.”

Duran shines on Bobblehead Day

Watching from the bullpen, Jhoan Duran didn’t think there was a chance he’d get into Saturday afternoon’s game. The team, after all, had been trailing for most of the day.

That is, until Kirilloff’s late home run.

It meant that on a day where fans lined up hours early to receive a special bobblehead, they got to see him record a save, as well.

The bobblehead pays tribute to Duran’s entrance with a button that plays the bell that blasts around the stadium when he enters and lights that mimic those that flash when he runs in. And in the middle is the closer, running towards the mound.

He’s not sure how many he plans to take home — but he’s got an idea.

“Maybe a bus (full),” he joked.

Briefly

Max Kepler played in his 1,000th game as a Twin on Saturday. Kepler, who debuted in 2015, is the 18th Twin to reach that milestone mark. … Pablo López will take the ball on Sunday, looking to rebound from a start in which he gave up seven runs in his five innings pitched.

Related Articles

Late-dramatics send Twins to fourth straight win

Twins beat defending champion Rangers for third straight win

Twins’ Royce Lewis to start rehab Saturday as return draws closer

During roller coaster of a season, Twins try to maintain consistent attitude

Twins’ Edouard Julien trying to rule again