Rose opens up a four-stroke lead

Justin Rose birdied the first three holes to quickly extend his lead at the Fort Worth Invitational and finished with a 4-under 66 on Saturday to take a four-stroke advantage into the final round at Colonial.

Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open champion and Olympic gold medalist with eight PGA Tour victories, was 14 under. Emiliano Grillo, his playing partner, shot 69 and was at 10 under with Brooks Koepka, who had a 67.

After a two-putt birdie at the opening par 5, Rose had back-to-back birdie putts to get to 13 under. That put him four strokes ahead of Grillo, who had eight pars in a row before consecutive birdies on Nos. 9 and 10.

The closest Grillo got after the opening stretch was three strokes, when he was 11 under with an 8-foot birdie at No. 10. Rose regained his four-stroke edge with birdie at the 616-yard 11th hole, and his only bogey was at the 173yard 16th, when the tee shot settled on the back fringe and he then missed a 5-foot par chance.

Rose has the largest 54-hole lead at the Hogan’s Alley since Kenny Perry led by seven in 2005 on way to his second decisive win in three years – he had a record eight-stroke lead for three rounds in 2003. The largest lead anyone had taken into the final round since had been two strokes, and that had happened only twice.

Canadian rookie Corey Conners had eight birdies over his last 12 holes for a career-best round of 63 that matched Ted Potter Jr. for the best of the day.

Conners was tied for fourth at 8 under, in a group of five players that included Jon Rahm, the world’s fourthranked player, and Louis Oosthuizen after they both shot 64. Five more players were at 7 under, including Potter.

Madison’s Steve Stricker had a 68 and was nine shots off the pace.

Champions Tour: Scott McCarron, seeking a second senior major title, made his only bogey of the third round on the final hole to slip into a tie for the lead with Tim Petrovic in the Senior PGA Championship in Benton Harbor, Mich.

They were at 13 under par after Petrovic, seeking his first major, shot 65. McCarron has shared the lead through three rounds.

England’s Paul Broadhurst, the 2016 British Senior Open winner, matched the best third-round score in tournament history with a 64. He was at 11 under.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, coming off his first major championship last week at the Regions Tradition, shot 65 and was 9 under.

Tom Byrum, who made a hole-inone in shooting a 67, was in a group at 8 under. Madison’s Jerry Kelly was also at 8 under after he carded a 70.

LPGA Tour: Minjee Lee shot a 4-under 68 to take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the LPGA Volvik Championship in Ann Arbor, Mich.

Lee was at 12 under.

Stacy Lewis, who is five months pregnant, had a 67 and was tied for second with In-Kyung Kim (67), Jodi Ewart Shadoff (69) and Lindy Duncan (69).