Kang leads by 3 strokes at Houston

Sung Kang shoots a 1-under 71 to hold a three-shot lead over Rickie Fowler after the third round of the Houston Open.

Sung Kang drives from the third tee Saturday during the third round of the Houston Open.

HUMBLE, Texas — Sung Kang shot a 1-under 71 to hold a three-shot lead over Rickie Fowler after the third round of the Houston Open on Saturday.

After shooting a tournament course record 9-under 63 on Friday, Kang took a commanding sixshot lead with a 36-hole tournament record of 129 through two rounds.

However, on Saturday, it was Fowler’s day to chase history, shooting a 5-under 67 to trim Kang’s lead as they head into the final round.

After Thursday’s 8-under 64, Fowler held a oneshot lead over Kang after the first round, but slipped to fourth on Friday with a 71. He returned to form on Saturday and has a PGA Tour career-best 22 birdies through three rounds.

Behind Kang and Fowler at 17-under 199 and 14-under 202 through three rounds, respectively, Russell Henley is 13-under 203 and Luke List is 12-under 204. No one else is within eight shots of Kang.

Kang, the 29-year-old South Korean who entered the week ranked No. 202 in the world, could earn an invitation to next week’s Masters with a win today.

Playing one hole behind Fowler throughout the day, Kang played in the shadows of Fowler’s stardom and the roar of the crowd rooting for a big comeback.

Kang gave up the lead briefly after a putt lipped out of the hole on 16 by taking a full circle around the cup before sneaking out.

On the final two holes of PGA Tour-Shell Houston Open At Golf Club of Houston Humble, Texas Purse: $7 million Yardage: 7,441; Par 72 Third Round 65-63-71—199 64-71-67—202 67-67-69—203 68-71-65—204 69-71-68—208 70-67-71—208 66-71-71—208 68-68-73—209 67-67-75—209 66-74-70—210 70-70-70—210 68-70-72—210 69-69-72—210 66-71-73—210 68-69-73—210 70-71-70—211 72-71-68—211 68-76-67—211 67-71-73—211 69-67-75—211 68-73-71—212 68-73-71—212 70-73-69—212 71-72-69—212 71-72-69—212 70-71-72—213 70-71-72—213 68-73-72—213 67-72-74—213 68-71-74—213 71-73-69—213 68-74-72—214 71-71-72—214 69-71-74—214 70-73-71—214 73-70-71—214 67-71-76—214 69-69-76—214 70-71-74—215 72-70-73—215 77-65-73—215 67-75-73—215 70-72-73—215 70-71-74—215 Sung Kang Rickie Fowler Russell Henley Luke List Rafael Campos Daniel Berger Kyle Stanley Aaron Baddeley Hudson Swafford Jhonattan Vegas Michael Kim Andrew Loupe Danny Lee Stewart Cink Jason Dufner J.T. Poston Kevin Chappell Andy Sullivan Justin Rose Zac Blair Harold Varner III Robert Garrigus Michael Thompson Jon Rahm Charley Hoffman Charles Howell III Bernd Wiesberger Billy Horschel Tom Hoge D.A. Points Sam Saunders Geoff Ogilvy Peter Uihlein Nick Taylor Patrick Cantlay Chris Wood Keegan Bradley Angel Cabrera Spencer Levin Mackenzie Hughes Robert Streb Troy Merritt Matt Jones Beau Hossler

the day, however, it was Fowler who had his share of misfortunes on his putts. He bogeyed on 17 and double-bogeyed on the 18th hole to give Kang a little more breathing room heading into the final round.

Today’s tee times have been moved up to 7:15 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Central with threesomes off split tees to try to avoid heavy thunderstorms and rainfall expected in the late morning Eric Christian Smith / The Associated Press to early afternoon.

Heavy winds approaching 25-30 mph at times and cloudy skies resulted in much higher scores on Saturday than were seen on Friday, with the average score around 1 over par.

Kang will be grouped with Fowler, something both players said they look forward to as they enter the final round. Kang has never led a tournament on the PGA Tour after three rounds. He said he was well aware of Fowler’s pursuit on Saturday, thanks to the crowd.

“I heard a lot of noise in front of us so I was like, ‘Oh, I know something big is going on up there,’” Kang said.

Fowler said he’s ready to shake off his struggles on the last two holes.

“I drove it well, hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens and made some good putts,” Fowler said. “I’m not looking at the last two holes. It was a great day of golf, and I put myself in a position to win a golf tournament tomorrow.”

Fowler said he likes the challenge of playing from behind and hopes to put some pressure on Kang.

Kang said he’ll be playing conservatively and defensively, especially with the strong possibility of inclement weather on the way.

For the third straight day, however, Kang insisted that he doesn’t have his sights set on earning a last-minute invitation to the Masters.

“Even if I think about it, it’s going to happen or not,” Kang said with a grin. “Why do I want to think about that? I’m so tired right now. I have no power to think about anything.”