Wood gets mojo back

CHRIS WOOD produced one of the comebacks of the season to keep himself in contention on day three of the HNA Open de France, but he will have to overcome formidable opposition if he is to win his first Rolex Series event today.

The Englishman entered the third day two shots behind leader Marcus Kinhult in Paris and that is where he ended it, although he needed a remarkable run of form around the turn to sign for a 67 and get to eight under.

A double-bogey on the fourth and a bogey on the fifth sent Wood tumbling down the leaderboard, but the 30-year-old picked up eight shots in his next 10 holes, with the help of a chip-in eagle on the ninth, to find himself just one off the lead.

A bogey on the last took some of the gloss off his surge through the field, and Wood was left looking over his shoulder as well as up at Kinhult, with 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia just one shot behind him.

World No5 Jon Rahm was then at six under, two shots clear of world No 2 Justin Thomas.

‘A lot of players might let that get to them, three over through five, but I felt like I was hitting pretty good shots,’ said Wood afterwards.

‘A couple behind going into tomorrow. Same sort of approach and attitude and see where it gets me.’

Kinhult chipped in for birdie on the first and then made a doublebogey after going in the water on the next, but five birdies in a row from the fifth handed him a fiveshot lead before he came home in level par.

‘It was a bit of a shaky start, but then I just hit some good shots and felt better and better throughout the round,’ said the Swede.

‘The momentum kind of kept me going in there, so that’s good.’

Garcia made four birdies on the front nine and four more on the back before finding water to drop a shot on the last, while Rahm had a birdie-birdie finish as he signed for a 68.

Thomas had five birdies and three bogeys in his round to sit alongside fellow American Julian Suri on four under par for the tournament.

It was a disappointing day for Scotland’s Russell Knox, who started the day with high hopes inside the top 10.

He is now only level par for the tournament in a share of 18th place after signing for a one-over-par 72.

The man from Inverness was going along nicely at one under par for his round until he reached the seventh hole where he ran up a double-bogey six.

Further bogeys at the eighth and 12th sandwiched three consecutive birdies at the ninth, 10th and 11th before he finished off with a bogey five at the last to complete what was an untidy round.

Stephen Gallacher, the only other Scot to make the cut in Paris, finished the day well down the field in a tie for 57th.

His four-over-par 75 left him seven over for the tournament, with only seven players behind him in the field.

ITALY’S Francesco Molinari and Mexican Abraham Ancer share the lead going into the final round of the Quicken Loans National in Potomac, Maryland.

Ancer fired a best-of-the-day 62 to race to 13 under par and he was later joined by the European, who shot a five-under 65.

They are two clear of Americans Ryan Armour (68) and Zac Blair, who posted a 66.

Tiger Woods is in a share of ninth on seven under following his third-round 68.