Bryson DeChambeau continued his imperious Friday form into the opening nine at the third round of the BMW Championship but struggled after the turn.
The American signed for a career-best of 60 in Baltimore in his second round and cantered to a strong lead with back-to-back eagles on the fourth and fifth on Saturday.
He reached the 10th on a six-under 30 but made hard work for himself after the turn, carding two bogeys and a double bogey across four holes to finish on 67 and 21 under for the tournament.
This was good enough to share the lead with Patrick Cantlay, who eagled the second and picked up five more shots before bogeying the 18th in a round of 66.
“It’s ultimately about winning no matter what,” DeChambeau said after his round. “Hopefully I can go get the job done [Sunday]. I’ve done it eight times; hopefully I can make it my ninth.”
Sungjae Im is third on 18 under, a shot ahead of a quartet including Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns who both carded rounds of 65.
“I didn’t waste as many shots as I did yesterday,” McIlroy said. “I maybe didn’t drive it quite as good as I did yesterday, but when I put myself in position today, I was able to take advantage and make the birdie from just off the green. So I scored a little bit better. I don’t feel like my game was that much different. Maybe holed a couple extra putts.
“But yeah, if you go out here and play remotely well, you’re going to have a chance to shoot a low score. I don’t feel like I did anything spectacularly well today, but just everything was solid.”
World number one and US Open winner Jon Rahm hit a 70 to sit eighth on 16 under, while Paul Casey is tied for 16th on 10 under and Lee Westwood is two shots behind that tied for 26th.
Meanwhile, Shane Lowry had a 71 to drop into a tie for 40th on six under and looks set to miss out on the top 30 that will go on to play in the Tour Championship finale in Atlanta.
Leaderboard
USA unless stated, par 72
195 Patrick Cantlay 66 63 66, Bryson DeChambeau 68 60 67
198 Sung Jae Im (Kor) 67 65 66
199 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 66 67 66, Sam Burns 64 70 65, Sergio Garcia (Esp) 65 67 67, Rory McIlroy (N Irl) 64 70 65
200 Jon Rahm (Esp) 64 66 70
201 Hudson Swafford 67 66 68
202 Dustin Johnson 67 70 65, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 67 68 67
204 Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 69 69 66, Alexander Noren (Swe) 71 66 67
205 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 71 66 68, Webb Simpson 67 72 66
206 Paul Casey (Eng) 68 68 70, Brooks Koepka 70 67 69, Jason Kokrak 73 68 65, Kevin Na 72 65 69, Aaron Wise 69 66 71, Harold Varner III 67 70 69
207 Cameron Davis (Aus) 73 67 67, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 70 69 68, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 67 68 72, Scottie Scheffler 73 66 68
208 Lucas Glover 68 67 73, Brian Harman 69 69 70, Charley Hoffman 69 71 68, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 67 69 72, Justin Thomas 68 71 69, Lee Westwood (Eng) 71 70 67
209 Daniel Berger 68 71 70, Stewart Cink 69 74 66, Corey Conners (Can) 70 70 69, Tony Finau 67 72 70, Patton Kizzire 69 72 68, Maverick McNealy 69 70 70, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 71 74 64, Cameron Smith (Aus) 68 72 69
210 Harris English 69 70 71, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 69 71 70, Matt Jones (Aus) 69 70 71, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 74 71 65, Chris Kirk 71 71 68, Shane Lowry (Irl) 71 68 71, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 68 74 68, Xander Schauffele 67 68 75, Harry Higgs 72 67 71
211 Jordan Spieth 71 70 70, Kevin Streelman 71 70 70, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 69 70 72, Tom Hoge 69 71 71
212 Ryan Palmer 68 75 69
213 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 67 73 73, Marc Leishman (Aus) 69 76 68, Phil Mickelson 68 77 68, Robert Streb 73 71 69
214 Talor Gooch 69 71 74, Branden Grace (Rsa) 75 71 68, Cameron Tringale 73 71 70
215 Keegan Bradley 67 76 72, Kevin Kisner 72 71 72, Keith Mitchell 72 70 73
216 Cameron Champ 70 74 72, Billy Horschel 71 72 73
217 Max Homa 72 72 73, Collin Morikawa 72 75 70, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 68 74 75
218 Russell Henley 72 73 73
