Tournament of Champions: Xander Schauffele leads Justin Thomas by a shot
- Published
Xander Schauffele has never held the solo lead after 54 holes at a US PGA Tour event
Third round leaderboard |
|---|
-11 Schauffele (US); -10 Thomas (US); -8 Woodland (US); -7 Kisner (US), Rahm (Spa), Morikawa (US), Poston (US), Wolff (US), Niemann (Chi), Reed (US) |
Selected others: -6 Fowler (US), -5 Johnson (US); -4 Casey (Eng) |
Xander Schauffele will take a one-stroke lead over fellow American Justin Thomas into Sunday's final round of the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
In strong winds, the defending champion and overnight leader shot a two-under-par 71 to sit on 11 under.
His nearest challenger Thomas carded a 67, with Gary Woodland in third on eight under after his 69.
American Patrick Reed and Chile's Joaquin Niemann both went round in 73 to fall back to seven under.
They are now in a group of seven players, including Spaniard Jon Rahm, on that score.
England's Paul Casey is at four under par after his four-under 69 in the third round.
Schauffele, who holds the outright 54-hole lead at a US PGA Tour event for the first time, said: "This is a newish realm I'm in, sleeping on the lead."
The four-time PGA Tour winner added: "Tomorrow's going to be even windier, I saw in the forecast. You can expect all sorts of things to happen and I'll just go with the flow."
Thomas, the 2017 champion, made five birdies on the front nine, but dropped a shot after the turn.
"I'm pretty disappointed with my finish today," said the world number four. "I could easily be 14 or 15 under now. I just need to build on that front nine."