Cantlay, Schauffele lead at Zurich
AVONDALE, La. – Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele played the back nine in 8-under 28 and shot a 12-under 60 in best-ball play Saturday to shatter the Zurich Classic three-round record at 29 under and stretch their lead to five strokes.
Cantlay and Schauffele broke the 54-hole mark of 23 under set in 2019 by Scott Stallings-Trey Mullinax and Jon Rahm-Ryan Palmer.
Jonas Blixt-Cameron Smith and Kevin Kisner-Scott Brown set the 72hole mark of 27 under in 2017, with Blixt and Cameron going on to win a playoff in the first-year of the team format at TPC Louisiana.
The final round will be alternate shot.
Cantlay and Schauffele opened with a tournament-record 59 in bestball play Thursday and had a 68 in alternate shot to maintain a one-stroke lead. They have set the 18-hole, opening round, 36-hole and 54-hole records.
“We’re going to try and do exactly what we did on Friday, which is sort of plot along, play our games, leave each other in good spots and try and hole some putts,” Schauffele. “It’s the third quarter. We finished a really good three good three quarters here and we have one more to go.”
The South African tandem of Garrick Higgo and Branden Grace were second at 24 under after a 63.
Sam Burns, the local favorite who played at LSU, and Billy Horschel were 23 under after a 63. They bogeyed the difficult par-3 ninth hole, then shot a 5-under 31 on the back nine.
Australians Jason Day and Jason Scrivener (63) and Aaron Rai and David Lipsky (65) also were 23 under. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and Ryan Palmer, who made the cut on the number at 8 under, had a 63 to get to 17 under.
LPGA Tour
LOS ANGELES – Nasa Hataoka took advantage of Jin Young Ko’s late meltdown Saturday to take a fourstroke lead into the final round of the
DIO Implant LA Open.
Tied for the lead with Hataoka after a birdie on the par-5 15th, the top-ranked Ko bogeyed the par-4 16th and made a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 17th after failing twice to get the ball out of the deep barranca.
Hataoka birdied the 16th and parred the final two holes for a 4-under 67 and 11-under 202 total at breezy Wilshire Country Club. The 23-year-old from Japan has five LPGA Tour victories, winning twice last season.
Hannah Green of Australia was second after a 69.
PGA Tour Champions
IRVING, Texas – Steven Alker moved into position for his second straight PGA Tour Champions victory, shooting a 5under 66 in windy conditions to take a two-stroke lead in the ClubCorp Classic.
The winner three weeks ago in the Rapiscan Systems Classic in Mississippi, Alker played the four par-5 holes in 4 under with an eagle on No. 3 and birdies on 10 and 18. The 50-year-old New Zealander had an 8-under 134 total at Las Colinas Country Club.
European Tour
LA PINEDA, Spain – Bad weather in northeast Spain forced organizers to suspend the third round of the ISPS Handa Championship. Organizers of the European tour event said the third round would restart at 8 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) on Sunday. The final round would not start until 11:30 a.m. local time. Scott Jamieson leads the tournament. He has completed just five holes of the third round.