IN HOT PURSUIT
Luke List part of crowd near top of leaderboard
SAN DIEGO — Alex Noren has all the credentials to be on the fringe of the elite in golf. He is a nine-time winner on the European Tour, including the flagship BMW PGA Championship last year, and he cracked the top 10 in the world when he won four times in 2016.
Now the 35-year-old Swede has a chance to make his mark in America.
Noren surged on the closing stretch as so many challengers crumbled Saturday in the third round of the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open. He bounced back from a double bogey with three birdies over the final six holes for a 3-under-par 69 and a one-shot lead going into the final round at Torrey Pines.
“To win would be very, very big for my confidence, I think,” said Noren, who was at 11-under 205 overall. “And playing around these courses … we’re going to have the U.S. Open here in a few years, so it would be massive.”
But even as he took his first 54-hole lead in his first PGA Tour event as a member, it was easy to overlook him.
For starters, Tiger Woods takes up almost all the attention. Woods was at his scrambling best in the third round, and he had to be. He hit only three fairways, only had a birdie putt on nine holes and still managed a 70. He was eight shots behind.
Beyond golf’s top attraction was the long list of players chasing Noren, with Baylor School graduate Luke List among them. He was tied for first during the round, but two bogeys in his final four holes led to a 73 that had him among those in fifth, three strokes out of the lead.
Two dozen players were separated by five shots going into the final round. That started with Ryan Palmer, who lost momentum from his 45-foot eagle by making two late bogeys and a lazy swing with a wedge that kept him from a good chance at birdie on the 18th.
And it still includes Jon Rahm, who hit into
the water front the green on the par-5 closing hole and took double bogey for a 75. He was still just four shots back — Rahm was three behind when he won this tournament last year — and still in range of a victory that would give the 23-year-old Spaniard the No. 1 ranking.
It most likely doesn’t include Woods, who was no less entertaining. He was so wild off the tee, he hit only one fairway on the back nine at the start of his round. Without a deft short game, Woods figures he might have shot something in the 80s.
“It’s not the driver, it’s my swing,” said Woods, who has hit only six fairways since Thursday. “Some of my go-to shots aren’t there. Some of the shots I like to hit under certain circumstances aren’t there, either. The only thing I have is my short game and my heart, and that got me through today.”
Baylor School alum Harris English (73) was tied for 25th at 5 under. Keith Mitchell (74), another former Red Raider, was tied for 44th at 2 under.
McIlroy contends
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Rory McIlroy was within sight of his first title in 17 months after the third round of the Dubai Desert Classic. He was one shot behind surprise leader Li Haotong, who shot a bogey-free 8-under 64 and was 20 under overall in the European Tour event.
McIlroy was 1 over at the turn in his third round — darkness halted play Friday, and he finished his second round Saturday morning — marking the first time he had struggled so noticeably seven rounds into into his comeback from a three-month
layoff due to injuries.
The four-time major champion then recovered with five birdies on the back nine to post a 68. His most recent win was the Tour Championship in August 2016.
Li, the highest-ranked Chinese male golfer in the world at No. 60, produced a brilliant display of iron play and putting to be in great position to add to his only previous European Tour win, the 2016 China Open.
On another low-scoring day, Alex Levy made a hole-in-one in a round of 65, a score matched by Haydn Porteous, who played in the same group. Levy and Porteous were tied for third and three strokes out of the lead.
Andy Sullivan (63) had the third round’s low score and was another stroke back in fifth.
Henderson leads
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — Brooke Henderson birdied the par-5 18th hole and had a onestroke lead over topranked Shanshan Feng in the suspended second round of the wind-swept Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic.
Henderson’s par round of 73 had her at 5 under overall after two rounds and three days at the Ocean Club Golf Course. On Friday, the event was cut from 72 to 54 holes after wind wiped out play most of that day.
Feng had nine holes left Saturday when play was suspended because of darkness.
There was a crowd at 3 under: Ryann O’Toole shot a 69 and Danielle Kang a 73, while Wei-Ling Hsu had nine holes to play and Luna Sobron Galmes and Lexi Thompson each had 10 to go.
“Lying to