Cook’s 64 earns lead of 1 at 19-under 197

Austin Cook played a sixhole stretch in 6-under and shot an 8-under 64 in breezy conditions Saturday to take the lead at the CareerBuilder Challenge in Southern California. Cook began the run at La Quinta Country Club with birdies on Nos. 4-5, eagled the sixth and added birdies on No. 7 and 9 to make the turn in 6-under 30.

After a bogey on the 10th, he birdied Nos. 11, 12 and 15 and saved par on the 18th with a 20-footer to take a 19-under 197 total into the final round on PGA West’s Stadium Course. The 26-year-old former Arkansas player is making his first start in the event. He won at Sea Island in November for his first PGA Tour title. Fellow former Razorbacks star Andrew Landry and Martin Piller were a stroke back. Landry, the second-round leader, had a 70 on the Stadium Course. Piller, the husband of LPGA Tour player Gerina Piller, shot a 67 at La Quinta. They are both winless on the PGA Tour.

Jon Rahm had a 70 at the Stadium Course to reach 17 under. The top-ranked player in the field at No. 3, Rahm beat up the par 5s again but had four bogeys.

Rory McIlroy fired a 7-under 65 in Saturday’s third round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship to sit one shot behind leaders Ross Fisher and Thomas Pieters. Northern Ireland’s McIlroy is at 16-under 200 overall with the former world No. 1 playing his first event since October.

Danthai Boonma and Chapchai Nirat built a twostroke lead over a chasing pack including Sergio Garcia and Ryo Ishikawa midway through the third round of the weather-interrupted Singapore Open.