Kiwi Ryan Fox has produced a third straight par round to climb the leaderboard at the US PGA Championship at Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Teeing off early in cold conditions at the Southern Hills Country Club, Fox picked up a shot on the first hole and another at the fourth to reach two-under for the tournament, before losing momentum over the closing four holes, bogeying the 15th and 18th to sign off on a round of 70.
The performance thrust the 35-year-old into the top 20 with leaders still out on the course and set him up for his best finish at a Major tournament - he tied for 16th at the 2019 British Open Championship.
Trailling by nine shots overnight, Fox actually made ground on the leaders, as conditions deteriorated further, with American Will Zalatoris and Chilean Mito Pereira dropping shots early. By the end of play, he sat 17th-equal, still nine shots astray.
Eventually, Pereira birdied three of the final six holes for a one-under-par 69 and a three-shot lead, as golfers contended with windy and cool conditions. Pereira is at nine-under 201 going into Sunday's final round.
Zalatoris and England's Matt Fitzpatrick share second place at six under, and Cameron Young is in fourth at five under. Fitzpatrick and Young posted 67s, while Zalatoris shot 73, recovering from a horrid opening stretch, where he had bogeys on four of the first seven holes.
Pereira, who played collegiately for Texas Tech, has never won on the PGA Tour and has three top-10 finishes this season in 27 tournaments.
Pererira was a shot behind Zalatoris when the round began, but he moved to the top right away. He was two under for the round through five holes, but had four bogeys, before his next birdie came at No.13.
Young, who benefitted from an eagle on No.17, and Zalatoris are former college teammates at Wake Forest. Fitzpatrick is the older brother of current Wake Forest golfer Alex Fitzpatrick.
Mexico's Abraham Ancer (70) is fifth at four under and Ireland's Seamus Power (67), who rolled in four birdie putts in his last seven holes, holds sixth place at three under.
Bubba Watson followed Friday's 63 with 73, putting him tied for seventh with Stewart Cink (71) and Justin Thomas (74) at two under. Watson made an early charge, before playing the backside in four over.
First-round leader Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland shot 74 and is even for the tournament, tied for 17th place with Fox and four others.
Webb Simpson, another Wake Forest alum, shot 65 for the best score of Saturday's round, movingd him to one under and into a seven-way tie for 10th place.
Reuters
