Justin on pole but Jon threatens a Rahm raid
Spain’s Jon Rahm last night fired a career-best
61 – which included a holein-one – to charge up the leaderboard at thewgc-mexico Championship.
Rahm had started the third round 10 strokes off the lead on one-under at Chapultepec Golf Club, where Justin Thomas will take a one-shot lead into today’s final round.
However, a blistering start saw the 25-year-old make birdies on six of the opening seven holes, with a bogey at eight seeing him go into the turn at 30.
The Spaniard built momentum again as he picked up three more shots heading into the final two holes and hole a superb ace on the 158-yard par-three 17th, where his tee-shot took one bounce before finding the hole to cap a remarkable round.
That left him at 11-under-par alongside Rory Mcilroy and Bryson Dechambeau in a share of fourth three shots behind Thomas in 15-under.
South Africa’s Erik van Rooyen and Patrick Reed are tied second just a shot behind Thomas.
Rahm’s 61 was a course record at Chapultepec, the lowest round of his own European Tour career and the joint-lowest round in the history of the World Golf Championships.
Rahm said: “I think a lot of us like to talk sometimes about how unlucky we get and I think today was one of those days where I got fortunate.
“I hit the right shots and I got the right bounces and I took advantage of it. There was a couple of holes where I could have gotten a little more unlucky
“I think we all compete and want to win tournaments when everybody is playing their best and if you win one of those stacked fields, it’s a lot of fun and it’s a great accomplishment, so hopefully I’m the one on top tomorrow afternoon.”
Scotland’s Bob Macintyre is in a tie for 41st on one-over-par.
■ Martin Laird matched the course record at Coco Beach Golf Course yesterday to sit just one shot behind Viktor Hovland ahead of today’s final round at the Puerto Rico Open.
The 37-year-old Scot, who is a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, hit two eagles and five birdies in his flawless nine-underpar 63.
Laird has not won since claiming the Valero Texas Open in April 2013 and trails Norwegian Hovland, who is targeting his maiden professional title, after his third round of 64.
The 22-year-old carded three birdies on his front nine for 31 at the turn. But three more in his final four holes, including at the 18th, helped him get to 18 under.
American Josh Teater was also bogey-free in his third round as he sat in sole third place at 16-under, while fellow overnight co-leader Emiliano Grillo was three shots further back in fourth.