Washington (AFP) – England’s Aaron Rai and American Akshay Bhatia each fired a four-under par 68 to remain tied for the lead after Saturday’s third round of the US PGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Rai and Bhatia each sank birdie putts at the par-5 17th and parred the last to finish 54 holes on 17-under 199 at Detroit Golf Club.
That was good enough for a one-shot lead over Australian Cam Davis and American Cameron Young with South African Erik van Rooyen and American Sam Stevens sharing fifth on 201.
After a storm dumped 1.5 inches of rain on the layout and delayed the start by two hours, Rai sorted out the changed conditions quickly.
“Did a pretty good job,” Rai said.
“It was tricky. Conditions were a little tougher. A lot of crosswinds. We handled the conditions pretty well overall. It’s another good solid day of golf to draw on going into tomorrow.”
Bhatia, bogey-free through 54 holes, sank some testy par putts, including one from just beyond four feet at 18.
“It’s pretty cool,” Bhatia said.
“I just grinded. I didn’t play that great but I just hung in there like the last couple days. Should be a fun test tomorrow.”
Young, a seven-time PGA runner-up, seeks his first tour title. His most recent second place came in March’s Valspar Championship. Young made a five-foot birdie putt at 17 and Davis, whose lone PGA victory was at this event in 2021, sank a seven-foot birdie putt at 18 to briefly share the lead.
Bhatia answered the challenge with a 14-foot birdie putt at 17 to retake the lead and Rai joined him with a nine-foot birdie putt at 17 moments later.
Rai is chasing his first PGA Tour title but won the 2018 Hong Kong Open and captured the 2020 Scottish Open on the DP World Tour.
– ‘Keep plugging along’ –
Bhatia won playoffs to capture both his PGA titles, at last July’s Barracuda Championship and April’s Texas Open.
“Hopefully everything is going great tomorrow but if not then I can lean on other things,” Bhatia said.
“See how many birdies you can make and just keep plugging along.”
Rai sank a 14-foot birdie putt on the first hole but Bhatia answered from just beyond six feet at the second and both birdied the par-5 fourth to reach 15-under.
Rai dropped his approach at the eighth only inches from the hole and tapped in for birdie to seize the solo lead.
Bhatia answered with a birdie putt from just inside six feet at 10 but the 29-year-old Englishman answered with a tap-in birdie at the par-3 11th.
Rai found a bunker at the par-3 15th and blasted out just beyond 11 feet but left his putt right of the cup and suffered his first bogey of the week, falling back level with Bhatia.
Luke Clanton, a 20-year-old American amateur, birdied four of the first seven holes and eagled the par-5 14th on the way to shooting 65 and sharing seventh on 202.
“To be anywhere in contention entering the final round is pretty sweet,” he said.
© 2024 AFP
