Late birdies help Thomas take lead, with Rahm lurking

Justin Thomas wasn’t playing poorly. It only felt that way Saturday at the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship, where being a few shots under par means losing ground. He was 3under and already had lost the lead he had at the start.

The final hour changed everything — his score, his position, even his outlook. Thomas got one good break, made two good birdie putts and wound up with a 5under 67 to improve to 19under 197 for a oneshot lead over Jon Rahm going into the final round in Thousand Oaks ( Ventura County).

“Didn’t have my best stuff by any means, but to shoot a round like that is huge on a course like this,” Thomas said. “Usually I’m grinding to shoot a 1, 2, 3under. Here at Sherwood, the scores are very low and you need to be able to — crazy as it is — shoot 5under to keep pace.”

Thomas got there with an 8foot par putt on the 15th, a 10foot birdie putt on the 16th after his tee shot nearly went into a creek and a 30foot birdie putt up the slope on the par3 17th.

“Great to give myself a little bit of momentum and cap off what I felt like was a pretty average day,” Thomas said.

It was anything but average for Rahm. He was 5under through five holes and saved par at the end for a 63. Lanto Griffin, who had the lead until bogeys on two of his last four holes, was another shot behind.

For all the low scores, it was another grind for Tiger Woods, the Zozo

Championship winner last year in Japan, who could only manage a 71. Phil Mickelson opened with seven birdies in eight holes, only to play the rest of the way in 2over for a 67. Mickelson and Woods will be playing in the same group Sunday, the ninth time they have played together in the final round on the PGA Tour, and the first time they have no bearing on the outcome. They were 16 shots out of the lead.

Patrick Cantlay kept bogeys off his card for the third straight day in shooting 68. He was three shots behind Thomas, along with Sebastian Muñoz and Ryan Palmer, who each had 66.

Webb Simpson ( 67) and Bubba Watson ( 68) were among those four shots behind.

LPGA Tour: Ally McDonald held on to the lead in the LPGA Drive On Championship-Lake Reynolds Oconee in Greensboro, Ga., shooting a 3under 69 to take a onestroke advantage into the final round. Winless on the LPGA Tour, the 27yearold from Mississippi had a 13under 203 total on the Great Waters Course. Bianca Pagdanganan of the Philippines was second after a 69. Pagdanganan, a member of Arizona’s 2018 NCAA championship team after starting her college career at Gonzaga, is making her sixth LPGA Tour start of the year and seventh overall.

San Francisco-born Danielle Kang was third at 11under after a 70. European Tour: Laurie Canter and Ross McGowan share a threeshot lead entering the final round of the Italian Open in Brescia.

Canter, who is looking for a wiretowire victory and a first European Tour title after his openinground 60, shot a 3under 69 in the third round. McGowan, who has had just one top10 finish on the European Tour over the past four seasons, carded a 67.