Horschel and Gooch share lead at Bay Hill; Ko triumphs

MIAMI: Billy Horschel rolled in a 28-foot birdie putt from off the green at 18 on Saturday to grab a share of the third-round lead alongside Talor Gooch at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Horschel, the 2014 Fedex Cup champion, had four birdies in his one-under-par 71 on a day when gusting winds and slick greens made for tough going at Bay Hill in Orlando, Florida.

Gooch joined Horschel on seven-under-par 209 with an even-par 72.

Gooch had jarred a 33-foot birdie put at 15 and a 14-footer at 16 to reach eight-under, then got up and down for par from a greenside bunker at the par-three 17th.

But he missed a five and a half foot par put at 18, his fourth bogey of the day dropping him into a share of the lead.

Amid the swings and struggles of the day, overnight paceseter Viktor Hovland had led by as many as four strokes, shaking off a bogey-bogey start with an eagle at the sixth, where he holed out from a greenside bunker.

The world number four from Norway curled in a 10-foot birdie at the eighth, but he was fourover on the back nine in a three-over par round capped by back-to-back bogeys that robbed of even a share of the lead.

At six-under 210, Hovland was one stroke in front of Scotie Scheffler, who matched the best round of the day with a four-under-par 68 for 211.

Although the Florida weather looked delighful, with warm temperatures and sunny skies, Scheffler said the wind and puting surfaces combined for a stiff challenge.

Northern Ireland’s Rory Mcilroy, who started the day two adrit and carded a four-over 76, said the crosswinds made it hard to find the fairway.

Mcilroy was three-over with three bogeys in his first 11 holes before his first birdies of the day at 12 and 13. But he was out of bounds off the tee at 15 on the way to a double bogey and ater a birdie at 16 he closed with two more bogeys.

KO SHINES: South Korea’s Ko Jin-young stormed to a two-shot victory by closing with a final round six-under-par 66 to win the HSBC Women’s World Championship at the Sentosa Golf Club on Sunday.

Playing in her first event of the 2022 LPGA season, Ko showed why she is the world number one as she outplayed her closest rivals by firing five birdies in her last six holes to clinch her sixth LPGA title with her winning total of 17-under-par 271.