AKRON, Ohio — Justin Thomas pulled away from the crowd with five birdies in the middle of his round for a 3-under 67 and a three-shot lead going into the final round of the Bridgestone Invitational.
No one could keep pace with Thomas, least of all Tiger Woods.
Starting the third round Saturday five shots behind, Woods managed only one birdie and shot 73 to end his streak of 10 consecutive rounds at par or better during his comeback season. He was 11 shots behind.
Thomas, who defends his title next week in the PGA Championship, goes after his third victory of the season, but first in five months.
He plays in the final group with Rory McIlroy, who shot a 67 and was three behind. Ian Poulter (70) also was three back.
LPGA: Pornanong Phatlum made the Royal Lytham course sing for her again as she held on to her overnight one-shot lead of the Women’s British Open after the third round in Lytham St. Annes, England.
She birdied the third, sixth, eighth, and 11th holes, and dropped her first shot of the major on the par-3 12th, a bogey. It added up to a solid 3-under-par 69 and the prospect of a first win on the LPGA Tour, let alone a first major title.
She was at 13 under overall, one stroke ahead of playing partner Georgina Hall of England, whose scrambling through an erratic round kept her in contention also for a first major title. She birdied three of the last four holes to join Pornanong in the final group on Sunday.
Ryu So-yeon was third at 11 under, one shot behind Hall after climbing the leaderboard with a run of six birdies from the fifth to the 12th.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Kenny Perry tied a tournament record with a 12-under 60 and has a five-shot lead after two rounds of the 3M Championship in Blaine, Minnesota.
Looking to become just the second three-time winner of the event, Perry had two eagles and eight birdies at a wet TPC Twin Cities. His two-round score of 126 is a tournament record.
Paul Goydos shot 60 in the second round en route to winning last year’s event.
Perry, who won the event in 2014 and 2015, shot 30 on the front side, including holing out from 106 yards for eagle at the par-5 sixth. He birdied Nos. 12, 13, 16 and 17 on the back nine before an eagle at 18.
Glen Day (65) is five back; Tom Gillis (67), Lee Janzen (68) and Jerry Smith (70) are at 10 under.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.