Palmer Jackson had a dream start to his third round at the 68th Sunnehanna Amateur on Friday, making four straight birdies to move into contention heading into Saturday’s final round.

Jackson made a total of nine birdies and shot a 6-under 64 to finish the round tied for third place, three strokes off the lead.

Trent Phillips, a rising senior at Georgia, is the leader at 7-under. He shot a 4-under 66 Friday. Karl Vilips, a rising sophomore at Stanford from Australia, is second at 6-under.

In addition to his round-opening run, Jackson, a Franklin Regional grad, made three straight birdies on the back nine starting on No. 11. A rising junior at Notre Dame, Jackson is coming off a win at the R. Jay Sigel state match play championship earlier this month.

Brookville’s Nathan Smith shot a 72 and is at plus-3 for the tournament. Greensburg’s Mark Goetz, Oakmont’s Sean Knapp and Pittsburgh’s Rick Stimmel did not make the cut.

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