Rose showing the way, but Koepka looms
Former Lobo Ewart Shadoff two shots back of LPGA Tour leader
FORT WORTH — While Justin Rose felt good about his four-stroke lead after three rounds at Colonial, he wasn’t yet counting down the holes left in the Fort Worth Invitational.
“I think I’ve won and lost actually from four ahead, so I’ve got experience both ways,” Rose said after shooting a 4-under 66 on Saturday to get to 14 under. “Just shows you can’t get ahead of yourself.”
Rose also remembers how he won his PGA Tour season debut, a surprise in Shanghai in October after he began the final round of the HSBC Champions eight shots behind Dustin Johnson, then No. 1 in the world.
“I’ve got experience the other way,” Rose said. “So you can see how things can go both ways real quick. … Great position going into tomorrow, yeah. Look forward to putting it away, but I kind of know there are going to be challenges out there.”
Fifth-ranked Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open champion and Olympic gold medalist with eight PGA Tour victories, led by four over playing partner Emiliano Grillo and defending U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka. Grillo shot 69 while Koepka had a 67.
LPGA TOUR: In Ann Arbor, Mich., Minjee Lee shot a 4-under 68 to take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the LPGA Volvik Championship, with Stacy Lewis tied for second playing five months’ pregnant.
Lee capped a bogey-free third round with a birdie on No. 18 to get to 12 under, and the Australian standout will try to celebrate her birthday with her first victory of the year. She turns 22 today.
Lewis (67) birdied five of the last six holes to match In-Kyung Kim (67), former University of New Mexico standout Jodi Ewart Shadoff (69) and Lindy Duncan (69) at 10 under.
There were nine players within three strokes of Lee, who lost this tournament by one stroke last year.
EUROPEAN TOUR: In Virginia Water, England, Francesco Molinari mastered the toughest conditions of the week at Wentworth to shoot a 6-under 66 and share the lead with Rory McIlroy after three rounds of the BMW PGA Championship.
Scoring was more difficult because of gusty winds and fast, firm greens at the West Course, but Molinari managed a bogey-free round featuring six birdies.
The Italian took five shots off McIlroy, who started the round with a three-stroke lead and needed birdies at the par fives at Nos. 17 and 18 for a 1-under 71 to keep at least a share of first place on 13-under 203.
It could be a two-way fight for the title at the European Tour’s flagship event, with their nearest challengers — defending champion Alex Noren (70), Sam Horsfield (72), Branden Grace (69) and Ross Fisher (68) — four shots back at 9 under.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: In Benton Harbor, Mich., Scott McCarron made his only bogey of the third round on the final hole to shoot a 5-under 66 and slip into a tie for the lead with Tim Petrovic in the Senior PGA Championship. They were at 13 under par after Petrovic, seeking his first win as a senior and first major championship, shot 6-under 65.
Petrovic, a one-time winner in 2005 on the PGA Tour, will be in the final group for the first time since 2010 in The Memorial.