Matt Kuchar fired a two-under par 70 to seize a two-stroke lead over fellow Americans Kevin Chappell and Kyle Stanley after Saturday’s third round of the $6.2 million US PGA Memorial tournament.
In a round where world no. 1 Tiger Woods struggled to a 79 to stand 16 strokes off the pace and second-ranked Rory McIlroy settled for a 75 and stood 14 strokes back, Kuchar offset back-nine stumbles with long birdie putts.
Kuchar birdied the par-3 fourth and par-5 seventh but closed the front nine with a bogey. He responded with a 19-foot birdie putt at the par-4 10th, then sandwiched two birdies between bogeys at the par-3 12th and par-5 15th.
Kuchar dropped an 11-foot birdie at the par-4 13th and followed by sinking a 17-foot birdie putt at the par-4 14th at the Muirfield Village layout.
After 54 holes, Kuchar was on eight-under 208 with Stanley and Chappell both on 210. Stanley stumbled to a 73 on Saturday while Chappell fired a 68.
Woods began on the back nine and had a horror-show start with double bogeys at the 12th and 15th holes, a triple bogey at 18 plus a bogey at the 17th. After birdies at the first and second and another at the fifth, he closed with bogeys at the sixth and ninth.
McIlroy fared little better, starting with a bogey at the 10th that he answered with a birdie at the 12th. He made a bogey at the first, a double bogey at the third and a bogey at the eighth before closing with a birdie.
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Feng shoots 67 to stay ahead at lpga classic
Galloway Township (USA), June 2: China’s Shanshan Feng beat the wind on Saturday to take the lead and now has a good chance of beating everyone else in the ShopRite LPGA Classic.
Feng, who last year became the first Chinese player to win an LPGA Tour title and a major event in capturing the LPGA Championship, shot a marvelous 4-under 67 before the wind picked up and grabbed a three-shot lead heading into the final round.
The round matched the day’s best and gave the eighth-ranked Feng a 6-under 136 total.
The wind was mild in the morning when Feng played and then gusted in the afternoon, leaving players second-guessing club selection and battling inconsistent greens, some of which dried out and didn’t hold shots and others that were strangely receptive.
Eighteen players broke par with only one doing it in the afternoon when Stacy Lewis, first-round co-leaders Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand and Amanda Blumenherst, and Michelle Wie all played. — ap