England's Paul Casey holds a four-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Travelers Championship after shooting a brilliant 62, his lowest career round on the PGA Tour.
The highlight of the 40-year-old's round was an eagle after driving the 273-yard par-four 15th at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, but a further six birdies took him to 16 under, well clear of second-placed American Russell Henley.
“That’s something I rarely see from me, 18 greens in regulation, so whatever he [swing coach Peter Kostis] told me worked,” said Casey in his post-round interview.
Casey, who won the Valspar Championship in March, has world number nine Jason Day and two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson six shots behind but his potential Ryder Cup team-mate Rory McIlroy appears too far back to challenge.
A second successive 69 for the Northern Irishman was well off the pace, with most of his rivals scoring in the mid to low 60s, and at eight under the four-time Major champion has probably left himself too much to do.
He too eagled the 15th, chipping in from the front of the green, but a bogey at the last – his third of the day after two earlier birdies – was a disappointing way to end.
Séamus Power remains on three under after posting a level-par 70, but Pádraig Harrington slipped backed to level par after carding a five-over 75.
Collated scores
Third round scores & totals in the Travelers Championship (USA unless stated, par 70):
(a) denotes amateurs
194 Paul Casey (Eng) 65 67 62
198 Russell Henley 66 65 67
199 J.B. Holmes 66 68 65, Brian Harman 64 66 69, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 67 67 65
200 Jason Day (Aus) 66 68 66, Beau Hossler 65 67 68, Ryan Blaum 69 65 66, Bryson DeChambeau 66 66 68, Bubba Watson 70 63 67
201 Danny Lee (Nzl) 67 68 66, Matt Jones (Aus) 65 66 70, Kyle Stanley 67 69 65, Jamie Lovemark 68 69 64
202 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 69 67 66, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 64 69 69, Scott Brown 68 69 65, Zach Johnson 63 68 71, Kevin Tway 71 64 67, Patrick Cantlay 69 68 65
203 Lanto Griffin 70 63 70
204 Peter Malnati 64 72 68, Charley Hoffman 69 66 69, Stewart Cink 68 68 68, Kevin Streelman 68 69 67, Chase Seiffert 66 71 67, Hunter Mahan 68 68 68, Steve Marino 66 68 70, Denny McCarthy 70 68 66, James Hahn 70 67 67, Patrick Rodgers 69 68 67
205 Richy Werenski 68 69 68, Justin Thomas 66 69 70, Wesley Bryan 70 68 67, David Lingmerth (Swe) 67 67 71, Tyler Duncan 68 69 68, Blayne Barber 68 69 68
206 Brett Stegmaier 70 67 69, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 66 70 70, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 71 67 68, Brooks Koepka 68 69 69, Ken Duke 70 68 68, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 67 68 71, J.J. Spaun 68 67 71, Brandon Harkins 72 66 68
207 Keegan Bradley 68 70 69, J.J. Henry 68 68 71, Tom Lovelady 70 67 70, (a) Nick Hardy 69 68 70, Russell Knox (Sco) 73 64 70, Jordan Spieth 63 73 71, Seamus Power (Ire) 70 67 70
208 Scott Stallings 68 67 73, Sam Ryder 68 70 70, Kelly Kraft 66 72 70, Steve Wheatcroft 68 70 70, James Driscoll 66 72 70, Alex Cejka (Ger) 67 71 70, Trey Mullinax 67 71 70, Ryan Armour 67 71 70, Martin Laird (Sco) 67 71 70, Keith Mitchell 70 68 70
209 Ethan Tracy 68 69 72, Billy Hurley III 71 67 71, Vaughn Taylor 66 72 71, Sam Saunders 72 66 71
210 Martin Flores 68 70 72, John Huh 66 70 74, Adam Hadwin (Can) 68 69 73, Padraig Harrington (Ire) 66 69 75
211 Daniel Berger 67 71 73, Kyle Thompson 71 67 73, Cameron Tringale 72 65 74
215 Dominic Bozzelli 74 64 77
