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Joaquin Niemann shot a three under-par 68 in a wild ride Saturday to widen his lead to three strokes after three rounds of the Genesis Invitational at Pacific Palisades, California.
Ireland’s Rory McIlroy carded a third-round 67, moving him into an eight way tie for 18th on seven under. McIlroy dropped two shots with bogeys on the 12th and 15th holes but made it up with six birdies to leave him 12 shots off the lead.
Niemann, of Chile, started the day hot, befitting his play through the first two rounds, when he shot a pair of 63s. He is at 19-under 194 for the tournament, which is being contested at Riviera Country Club.
On Saturday, he went five under through the first 10 holes, capped by his eagle on the par-4 10th hole. That span also included four birdies and a bogey. But his final eight holes included two bogeys and six pars.
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Niemann, whose only PGA Tour win came in 2019, has led the tournament through all three rounds, acknowledged it’s not something that happens on a regular basis.
“Yeah, obviously it feels different,” Niemann said. “You don’t lead tournaments too often out here, there’s too many good players, but yeah, I think when it’s your week you’ve got to try to do your best and try to stay there, stay in the present and do your best.”
Alone in second place at 16-under 197 is PGA Tour rookie Cameron Young, who shot a two-under 69 on the heels of his nine-under 62 on Friday. Young, who is looking for his first Tour win, missed a chance to climb closer to the lead when he double-bogeyed the par-3 16th. His day included four birdies, including one at the 17th, and all the rest were pars.
He talked about the highs and lows after the round: “Today I didn’t get the most out of it, but I didn’t get the least either. Obviously I didn’t play as well as I did yesterday, I didn’t play as well as I did on Thursday, but to get out of there a couple under par is never a bad day. So happy I was able to kind of get it down there at the end.”
Viktor Hovland of Norway fired a six-under 65 to move into third place at 13-under 200. After birdies on seven of his first 11 holes on Saturday, he bogeyed 14 and 15, before adding a birdie at 17.
Hovland, a three-time winner on the Tour, most recently in November, called it a matter of playing his best golf and not worrying about the competition.
“Yeah, it’s a little frustrating because seven under through 11 holes and I had hardly gained any momentum, or I was peeking a little closer but I was still pretty far behind,” he said. “If they just keep playing the way they do, there’s not much I can do. Should have played better the first day. All I can do is just keep playing like I am and we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Justin Thomas, who began the day in third place, shot a one-under 70 to end the day at 12 under. His day included back-to-back bogeys at 12 and 13, and ended with consecutive birdies on 17 and 18.
Collated third round scores (USA unless stated, Irish in bold, Par 72)
194 Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 63 63 68
197 Cameron Young 66 62 69
200 Viktor Hovland (Nor) 71 64 65
201 Justin Thomas 67 64 70
202 Collin Morikawa 67 67 68
203 Max Homa 66 70 67, Marc Leishman (Aus) 70 66 67, Maverick McNealy 68 68 67, Scottie Scheffler 66 72 65
204 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 69 70 65, Adam Scott (Aus) 68 65 71
205 Paul Casey (Eng) 68 71 66, Jason Kokrak 67 72 66, Danny Lee (Nzl) 70 70 65, Robert MacIntyre (Sco) 71 67 67, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 70 66 69, Xander Schauffele 69 70 66
206 Beau Hossler 69 69 68, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 72 67 67, Peter Malnati 69 68 69, Rory McIlroy (Irl) 69 70 67, Chengtsung Pan (Tai) 67 70 69, Guillermo Mito Pereira (Chi) 70 68 68, Jordan Spieth 66 67 73, Cameron Tringale 69 68 69
207 Russell Henley 72 66 69, Martin Laird (Sco) 68 71 68, Taylor Moore 69 69 69, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 68 71 68, Sam Ryder 70 69 68, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 74 65 68, Will Zalatoris 69 70 68
208 Keegan Bradley 69 68 71, Patrick Cantlay 70 72 66, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 68 69, Lanto Griffin 74 66 68, Matt Jones (Aus) 70 67 71, Pat Perez 70 68 70, Chez Reavie 74 68 66, Sepp Straka (Aut) 74 68 66
209 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 69 72 68, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 68 73 68, Patton Kizzire 68 72 69, Russell Knox (Sco) 68 67 74, Scott Piercy 70 67 72, Andrew Putnam 70 70 69, Doc Redman 69 70 70, Cameron Smith (Aus) 67 68 74, Lee Hodges 71 70 68
210 James Hahn 72 69 69, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 72 70 68, Aaron Rai (Eng) 72 70 68, Sahith Theegala 69 72 69, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 70 72 68
211 Tony Finau 69 71 71, Rickie Fowler 71 71 69, Harry Higgs 75 67 69, Kevin Tway 68 69 74, Aaron Wise 70 70 71
212 Cameron Champ 72 70 70, Cameron Davis (Aus) 71 71 70, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 71 66 75, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 69 69 74, Hank Lebioda 69 73 70, Matthew NeSmith 69 73 70, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 70 72, Jon Rahm (Spa) 69 73 70, Brian Stuard 73 68 71, Nick Watney 71 67 74
213 Matt Kuchar 69 73 71, Alex Smalley 69 72 72
214 Charley Hoffman 67 75 72, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 70 70 74
215 Joel Dahmen 70 72 73, Adam Long 68 73 74
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