Rickie Fowler claims one-shot lead after third round of The Barclays
Sunday 28 August 2016 21:08, UK
Rickie Fowler continued to plot his way meticulously around the fearsome Bethpage Black course as he earned a one-shot lead after the third round of The Barclays.
With scoring proving tricky as the layout firmed up for the later starters, Fowler kept a bogey off his card for the second day running and fired an impressive 68 to edge ahead of long-time leader Patrick Reed on nine under par.
Reed endured an inconsistent front nine before salvaging a level-par 71, while Adam Scott surged into contention after taking advantage of the better, early conditions to post a best-of-the-day 65 which lifted him to within two of the lead.
Scotland's Martin Laird is just three off the pace after a solid 69, but Rory McIlroy failed to capitalise on an encouraging start and stuttered to a 71 which left him where he started on two under.
But Fowler has the advantage heading into the final round after making birdies at both par-fives on the front nine and converting a precise seven-iron to four feet at the last, while he also holed a number of clutch par putts including a superb save from over 10 feet at the 17th.
The majority of the field are finding it tough to keep the mistakes off their cards, but Fowler has completed 54 holes with just a single blemish, missing a four-foot putt for par on the ninth green in his first round.
Reed managed to stay at the top of the leaderboard for most of the day despite dropping three shots in four holes following a wayward tee shot to the par-three third.
He lifted his spirits with a birdie at the long seventh before getting back to level for the day when he rolled in a 20-foot putt for birdie at the ninth, although the putts dried up after the turn.
Reed failed to back-up a sublime six-iron to six feet at 17 and also missed a makeable chance from 15 feet on the last green, settling for a ninth straight par which kept him in outright second.
Scott made the most significant move of the day after a remarkable start, holing his 95-yard second from the rough for an unlikely eagle at the first and adding a birdie at the second before responding to a bogey at the next with a good putt for a four at the fourth.
The Australian drained another good putt for birdie at the seventh and came within inches of holing his approach to the 10th, and he had the vast New York galleries in raptures when he sank huge, 45-foot putts for birdies at both the 12th and 15th holes.
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A poor drive at 16 cost him a second bogey of the round, but he parred in to stay at seven under and one ahead of Laird, who mixed four birdies with two bogeys, and Emiliano Grillo (71).
World No 1 Jason Day is just one further adrift after he carded a battling 70 and again struggled to find the fairways with his driver, offsetting five birdies with four dropped shots.
Day has hit only a third of the fairways over the first three days, while Jordan Spieth is having similar difficulties and found the short grass only four times out of 14 from the tee in his 72 which included an ugly double-bogey five at 17.
Dustin Johnson looked close to his best as he made six birdies on the day, although he took a little gloss off his round when he signed off with his second bogey to slip back to four under.
McIlroy looked on course to emulate Scott's charge when he birdied the opening two holes and picked up another at the fifth following a mistake off the tee at the third.
But he left a par putt agonisingly short at the ninth and dropped another shot at 10 before parring the final eight holes to remain on two under for the tournament.
