Monday 26 February 2018 01:25, UK
Tommy Fleetwood remained in the hunt for his first PGA Tour victory after an entertaining third round of the Honda Classic.
Fleetwood did have a pair of sixes on his card on day three at PGA National, the second being a double-bogey at the 13th, but he had earlier holed from the fairway on the fourth and closed out a superb 67 with another eagle at the par-five last to get back to within two shots of the lead.
Luke List goes into the final round with a one-shot advantage over Justin Thomas and Webb Simpson, but Tiger Woods will need something special to contend on Sunday after a frustrating one-under 69 left him seven strokes off the pace.
List, chasing his maiden PGA Tour title at the age of 33, matched his second-round 66 as he cruised to the turn in three under and picked up further shots at the 16th and 18th either side of his only bogey of the day at 17, closing on seven under par for the tournament.
Thomas got off to a fast start with birdies at the second and third, and he responded to a dropped shot at the sixth with a gain at the 10th before reeling off three birdies in four holes from the 14th, making light of the difficulties of the Bear Trap with excellent twos at 15 and 17.
The FedExCup champion recovered from a big hook at the last to make a par to cap a 65, emulating the lowest round of the week posted by the in-form Alex Noren earlier in the day.
Thomas shares second place with former US Open champion Simpson, who handed in a rare bogey-free card which featured four birdies and 14 pars, adding up to a 66 and lifting him to six under par.
Fleetwood is a further shot adrift after he shook off the disappointment of a bogey-six at the third, statistically the easiest hole on the Champions Course, bouncing back in some style when he holed out from 140 yards for a spectacular eagle-two at the fourth.
The European No 1 holed a good putt for birdie at the eighth and parred the next four, but he made a mess of the 13th as he needed two attempts to escape a fairway bunker before he tugged his third into more sand by the green.
Fleetwood trudged to the next tee with a double-bogey on his card, but he again responded positively as he holed from 12 feet for birdie at the 16th and laced a stunning 280-yard second to eight feet at the last which he converted for his second eagle of the day.
The Englishman signed for a 67 which got him to five under alongside Jamie Lovemark, who held the outright lead after his fourth birdie at the 12th before he found the hazard from the tee at 15 and ran up a double-bogey five.
Noren is just three off the lead after an impressive 65 which he capped with one of the shots of the week, drilling his second from 270 yards to four feet to set up a well-deserved eagle.
Woods played his most consistent round of golf since returning to full-field PGA Tour action in January, although he was unable to convert a series of decent chances on the front nine and settled for eight pars and a lone birdie at the eighth.
He did well to save par from 15 feet at the 12th and celebrated by holing a birdie putt from similar range at the next, but he again encountered problems at the Bear Trap as missed greens at both 15 and 17 resulted in bogey-fours.
But he got back to level par for the tournament with a nice up-and-down for birdie at the last, and admitted afterwards that his 69 was "the highest score I could have shot today".
While Woods still has an outside chance of winning, Rory McIlroy will be playing for pride on Sunday after a horror run on the front nine in which he dropped six shots in only five holes.
To his credit, McIlroy lifted his spirits as he played the remainder of his round in three under to salvage a 73, but he will have an early tee time for the final day as he slipped to seven over par.
