Finau fights off Rose and Reed to lead by three strokes

SHANGHAI: Justin Rose will have one more day to try to catch leader Tony Finau after the American fought off a challenge from the defending champion in the third round of the HSBC Champions tournament.

Finau grinded out a hard-fought two-under 70 to end yesterday’s play at 13-under overall, three strokes ahead of playing partners Rose and US Masters champion Patrick Reed, who also each carded a 70.

Joining Reed and Rose at 10-under was American Xander Schauffele, who posted a 69.

Finau, who teed off with a threestroke lead, is known on the Tour for his upbeat approach to the game, and it came in handy after he surrendered the leaderboard to the English world number three Rose with two birdies on a shaky front nine at Shanghai’s Sheshan International Golf Club.

“There was no need to panic. Just play some good golf coming down the stretch and I was able to do that,” Finau said.

“I feel like my attitude is like this a lot. Never too up, never too down, at least for the most part. It usually serves me well in this game.”

Two strokes behind Rose on the back nine, Finau closed strong with birdies on the last three holes, highlighted by what he called a “perfect” iron off the tee on the 212-yard parthree 17th that set up a kick-in for birdie.

“That was my best stuff there. Any time you can have a kick-in on a hole like that when you’re just trying to make a three, it’s a big bonus,” he said.

Finau, of Samoan and Tongan descent, is the first player of that ancestry on the PGA Tour and the first Polynesian to play in the Ryder Cup, where he provided a rare bright spot as a USA captain’s pick in last month’s crushing loss to Europe.

His only PGA win so far was the 2016 Puerto Rico Open.

But his star has risen, with 11 top10 finishes in 2018, including at three Majors, and his Ryder Cup performance. He is currently the world number 17.

Rose benefitted from a finalround collapse in Shanghai last year by Dustin Johnson to come from eight strokes back for the win.

But the tables were turned yester- day as the Englishman surrendered the crucial 54-hole advantage with a costly double-bogey on the parthree 17th after his tee shot leaked into a hazard.

He followed that with bogey on the par-five 18th with a second shot into water.

The tournament, dubbed “Asia’s major”, annually gathers a premier field with its winner’s purse of US$1.8mil (RM7,5mil).

But some of golf ’s biggest names have struggled on the tricky course and in unpredictable winds.

Newly anointed world number one Brooks Koepka was well off the pace at one-over par, while last year’s goat Johnson was a further three strokes back.

Four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy was eight-over par.