Taiwan’s Kevin Yu on Saturday birdied two of his final three holes to grab sole possession of third and avoid a logjam at fourth at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi.
Keith Mitchell shined on the back nine to card a 7-under 65 to move into the lead after three rounds of action.
Mitchell, who recorded a 64 on Friday to share low-round honors with Beau Hossler, also managed to post the best score of the third round, collecting seven birdies while playing bogey-free golf. Five of those birdies came after the turn, and Mitchell now sits 20-under 196 for the tournament.
Photo: AFP
At the par-4 17th, Mitchell sank a 37-foot putt for birdie before putting his second shot at the par-4 18th about 7 feet from the hole. He then drained the ensuing putt, using the strong finish to take a lead into the fourth and final round.
“I definitely hit a few bad shots, and when I did, I just made sure I got it back in play and made par and tried to capitalize,” Mitchell said. “The putt on 17 was just a huge bonus. Then I got an accident lie on 18 and hit a great shot. All in all, it started kind of slow, and the last 10 holes I was just able to capitalize a little bit more.”
Hossler is in second, one shot off the lead. He fired a 68 on Saturday at the Country Club of Jackson.
After a rough double bogey at No. 12, Hossler settled down and went birdie-birdie-par-birdie from Nos. 14 through 17. He added three birdies on the front nine.
“Other than [No. 12], it was pretty flawless,” Hossler said of his third round. “Was in play pretty good off the tee. Maybe didn’t drive it quite as well as I did the first two rounds, but was able to get a lot of looks at birdie and took care of the par-5s and the drivable holes, which is what I talked about yesterday being really important out here.”
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