Thomas on top in Ohio
Justin Thomas pulled away from the crowd with five birdies in the middle of his round for a 3-underpar 67 and a 3-shot lead going into the final round of the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.
No one could keep pace with Thomas, learst of all Tiger Woods.
Starting the third round yesterday 5 shots behind, Woods managed only one birdie and shot 73 to end his streak of 10 consecutive rounds at par or better during his comeback season. He was 11 shots behind.
Thomas, who defends his title next week in the PGA Championship, goes after his third victory of the season, but first in five months.
He plays in the final group with Rory McIlroy, who shot a 67 and was 3 behind. Ian Poulter (70) also was 3 back.
• Kenny Perry shot a 12-underpar 60 at the TPC Twin Cities and leads the PGA Tour Champions event in Blaine, Minn., by 5 shots over Glen Day.
From 212 yards on No. 18, he missed shooting 59 by inches.
His two-round score of 126 is a tournament record.
Perry won this event in 2014 and 2015 and has finished worse than seventh once in seven appearances.
Hale Irwin is the only three-time winner of the tournament, in its 26th and final year. The tournament will be replaced by the PGA Tour’s 3M Open next July.
• Pornanong Phatlum made the Royal Lytham course sing for her again as she held on to her overnight 1-shot lead of the Women’s British Open after the third round in Lytham St. Annes, England.
Pornanong birdied the third, sixth, eighth, and 11th holes, and dropped her first shot of the major on the par-3 12th, a bogey. It added up to a solid 3-under-par 69 and the prospect of a first win on the LPGA Tour, let alone a first major title.
She was at 13-under overall, 1 stroke ahead of playing partner
Georgina Hall.
• Andrew Putnam took the lead in the Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nev., with 38 points, 3 ahead of playing partner Sam Saunders in the PGA Tour’s only modified Stableford scoring event.