Fleetwood is new leader after 3 rounds at Honda
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Tommy
Fleetwood has won in Scotland, England, the United Arab Emirates, France, South Africa, even Kazakhstan.
Victory in the U.S. hasn’t happened yet but he is in position to change that Sunday.
Fleetwood birdied four of his final six holes on the way to a 3-under 67 in the third round of the Honda Classic on Saturday, moving to 5 under for the week and one shot ahead of Brendan Steele at PGA National. Fleetwood, ranked No. 12 in the world, has been close to getting that elusive win on U.S. soil with two runner-up finishes.
Steele shot 71. He was alone on the lead through 36 holes at 5 under, birdied two of his first three on Saturday to get to 7 under and then made four bogeys in an eight-hole span.
Fleetwood’s score of 5 under is the highest by any leader through 54 holes since the Honda moved to PGA National.
Luke Donald birdied the last to finish a 71 and get to 3 under for the week, two shots off the lead. Lee Westwood (71) was tied with Donald. In other golf news:
• Brett Quigley shot a 5-under 68 in the Cologuard Classic at Tucson, Ariz., to open a threestroke lead in his bid to win for the second time in his first four PGA Tour Champions starts.
Fred Couples was second after a 66. The 60-year-old Hall of Famer won the last of his 13 senior titles in 2017.
“I enjoy playing,” Couples said. “If I can drive it like that, then an age is really irrelevant. It will become a struggle when I’m hitting it for some reason 30 yards shorter and all these holes I hit a driver and a 9-iron are now a driver and a 7-iron, I will not nearly be the player that I want to be, so I will be bye, bye.”
Miguel Angel Jimenez
(66) and Rod Pampling
(68) were 11 under. Bernhard Langer (68) and Robert Karlsson (71) followed at 10 under.