Breezing to a 64, Cook up by one
Landry, Piller next at La Quinta event; Rahm trails by two.
Austin Cook played a sixhole stretch in 6 under and shot an 8-under 64 in breezy conditions Saturday to take the lead at the CareerBuilder Challenge in La Quinta, Calif.
Cook began the run at La Quinta Country Club with birdies on Nos. 4-5, eagled the sixth and added birdies on No. 7 and 9 to make the turn in 6-under 30.
After a bogey on the 10th, he birdied Nos. 11, 12 and 15 and saved par on the 18th with a 20-footer to take a 19-under 197 total into the final round on PGA West’s Stadium Course. The 26-yearold former Arkansas player is making his first start in the event. He won at Sea Island in November for his first PGA Tour title.
Fellow former Razorbacks star Andrew Landry and Martin Piller were a stroke back. Landry, the second-round leader, had a 70 on the Stadium Course. Piller, the husband of LPGA Tour player Gerina Piller, shot a 67 at La Quinta. They are both winless on the PGA Tour.
Jon Rahm had a 70 at the Stadium Course to reach 17 under. The top-ranked player in the field at No. 3, Rahm beat up the par 5s again, but had four bogeys — three on par 3s. He has played the 12 par 5s in 13 under with an eagle and 11 birdies.
Scott Piercy also was two strokes back after a 66 at the Stadium.
Adam Hadwin had a 67 at La Quinta a year after shooting a third-round 59 on the course. The Canadian was 16 under along with Grayson Murray and Brandon Harkins. Murray had a 67 on PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course, and Harkins shot 68 on the Stadium Course.
Phil Mickelson missed the cut in his first tournament of the year for the second time in his career, shooting a 74 on the Stadium Course to finish at 4 under — four strokes from a Sunday tee time.
The 47-year-old Hall of Famer was playing for the first time since late October. He also missed the cut in the Phoenix Open in his 2009 opener.
Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship: Rory McIlroy fired a 7-under 65 in the third round to sit one shot behind leaders Ross Fisher and Thomas Pieters. McIlroy was at 16 under overall.
England’s Fisher also shot a 65, while overnight leader Pieters added a 67 to reach 17 under on a low-scoring day in the absence of any wind at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club’s National Course.
Top-ranked Dustin Johnson (68) was five shots behind the leaders. Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood (67) was tied for fourth on 201 with Matthew Fitzpatrick, whose 9-under 63 is the lowest round of the tournament.
Singapore Open: Danthai Boonma and Chapchai Nirat built a two-stroke lead over a pack that included Sergio Garcia and Ryo Ishikawa midway through the third round of the weather-interrupted tournament.
The Thai golfers were at 9 under when play was suspended at the Sentosa Golf Club for the third day in a row because of lightning strikes in the area.
Masters champion Garcia and former teen prodigy Ishikawa were among seven players leading the chase at 7 under.
Mitsubishi Electric Championship: Colin Montgomerie shot a second straight 7-under 65 to take a two-shot lead Friday in the PGA Tour Champions season opener at Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Bernhard Langer, defending the first of his seven 2017 titles, was six shots back after a 67.