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American Keith Mitchell shot a five-under 66 on Saturday to take a two-stroke lead over Rory McIlroy and Gary Woodland heading into the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship.
Mitchell picked up five birdies in a bogey-free third round to close out the day at nine under overall and draw within striking distance of his second career PGA Tour title.
Meanwhile, McIlroy weathered a late double-bogey en route to carding a three-under 68.
He raced out to the lead with four birdies on the front nine before dropping two shots on the par-four 12th but quickly bounced back with a birdie on the 15th.
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McIlroy sits level with American Woodland, who had four birdies offset by three bogeys in an inconsistent performance.
The Irish duo of Seamus Power and Shane Lowry sit on five over and six over respectively.
England’s Matt Wallace, who entered the day in a three-way tie for the lead, suffered a disastrous front nine as he fell to five shots back from Mitchell.
He followed up a bogey on the opening hole with dropped shots on the fifth, sixth and ninth, before clawing back shots on the 14th and 15th to card a two-over 73.
Scotland’s Russell Knox shot a one-under 70 to improve to equal-16th and an overall score of two under — one shot ahead of England’s Tommy Fleetwood.
Collated third round scores & totals in the USPGA Wells Fargo Championship, North Carolina, USA (USA unless stated, Par 71):
204 Keith Mitchell 67 71 66
206 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 72 66 68, 206 Gary Woodland 67 69 70
207 Luke List 67 72 68
208 Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 68 72 68, Scott Stallings 69 69 70
209 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 69 70 70, Jason Dufner 71 71 67, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 69 72 68, Patrick Reed 71 69 69, Kyle Stanley 67 74 68, Matt Wallace (Eng) 69 67,
210 Cameron Davis (Aus) 70 71 69, Bubba Watson 70 69 71, Richy Werenski 70 73 67
211 Joel Dahmen 68 72 71, Russell Knox (Sco) 70 71 70, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 70 68 73, Xander Schauffele 72 71 68, Vincent Whaley 72 68 71, Aaron Wise 72 71 68
212 Keegan Bradley 66 75 71, Bryson DeChambeau 70 74 68, Harris English 72 69 71, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 67 75 70, Talor Gooch 70 71 71, Lanto Griffin 75 68 69, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 74 66 72, Brandon Hagy 73 69 70, Patton Kizzire 69 72 71, Hunter Mahan 68 75 69, Ben Martin 69 71 72, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 71 71 70, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 71 70, Roger Sloan (Can) 76 64 72, Kevin Streelman 69 72 71
213 Brian Harman 68 72 73, Matt Jones (Aus) 69 71 73, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 66 77 70, Peter Malnati 67 74 72, Pat Perez 69 72 72, J. T. Poston 72 70 71, Sepp Straka (Aut) 69 74 70, Justin Thomas 69 73 71, J. J. Spaun 69 75 69, Johnson Wagner 73 68 72
214 Jonas Blixt (Swe) 71 73 70, Corey Conners (Can) 69 72 73, Ryan Moore 69 72 73, Brendan Steele 72 72 70, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 70 71 73
215 Stewart Cink 71 69 75, Phil Mickelson 64 75 76, Sean O’Hair 70 73 72, Chengtsung Pan (Tai) 74 69 72, Nick Taylor (Can) 74 67 74
216 Wyndham Clark 71 72 73, Zach Johnson 69 75 72, Andrew Putnam 70 72 74
217 K. J. Choi (Kor) 70 74 73, Michael Gligic (Can) 77 67 73, Matthew NeSmith 75 68 74, Brian Stuard 68 73 76, Bo Van Pelt 72 72 73
218 Russell Henley 74 70 74, Ted Potter Jr. 71 71 76, Seamus Power (Irl) 71 72 75
219 Beau Hossler 73 71 75, Shane Lowry (Irl) 71 73 75
220 Hank Lebioda 72 71 77, Kevin Tway 73 71 76, Jimmy Walker 72 72 76, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 74 68 78
221 D. J. Trahan 74 70 77
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