Defending champion Viktor Hovland will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the World Wide Technology Championship in Mexico after a sparkling 62 while Séamus Power sits in a tie for 10th after a 67.
Hovland, part of Europe’s Ryder Cup team at Whistling Straits in September, struck four birdies on the front nine and five more after the turn in a brilliant bogey-free round — the highlight a pitch to within inches at the 17th for a tap-in.
For Power there were four birdies on the front nine to go out in 32 and move himself to within three shots of the lead at one point. A bogey would come the way of the Waterford man at the 12th but he managed to birdie the 13th before parring his way in to go into the final round at 11 under, eight behind Hovland.
The Norwegian won the tournament by one shot from American Aaron Wise last year with four sub-70 rounds and has another three this year to reach 19 under par despite playing with a borrowed driver, after his was broken in pre-tournament practice by fellow player Danny Lee.
On his success at Mayakoba, Hovland told Golfweek: “I just think with it being a narrow course helps me because my bad shots tend to not go in the trees. If I can always stay in between the tree lines, I can hit a lot of approaches on the greens because they are soft and if I hit good iron shots they’re going to stop on the pin.”
Talor Gooch is the nearest challenger to Hovland on 17 under, with American Ryder Cup star and 2017 US PGA champion Justin Thomas a shot further back.
Sergio Garcia is at 13 under, a shot better than Wise, after a 67.
World Wide Technology Championship leaderboard (USA unless stated, Par 71)
194 Viktor Hovland (Nor) 67 65 62
196 Talor Gooch 64 69 63
197 Justin Thomas 68 65 64
199 Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 67 65 67
200 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 64 69 67, J. J. Spaun 65 68 67
201 Andrew Landry 66 68 67, Scottie Scheffler 67 64 70, Aaron Wise 63 70 68
202 James Hahn 67 67 68, John Huh 66 69 67, Denny McCarthy 67 68 67, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 69 66 67, Séamus Power (Irl) 68 67 67, Michael Thompson 68 65 69, Brendon Todd 67 69 66
203 Doug Ghim 69 65 69, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 70 66 67, Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 71 63 69, Billy Horschel 64 69 70, Matt Kuchar 68 66 69, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 67 66 70, Nick Taylor (Can) 67 69 67, Matthew Wolff 61 68 74
204 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 68 68 68, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 69 68 67, Roberto Diaz (Mex) 71 65 68, Tyler Duncan 67 70 67, Charles Howell III 69 66 69, Adam Long 66 70 68, Troy Merritt 68 70 66, Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 67 68, Chengtsung Pan (Tai) 69 68 67, Aaron Rai (Eng) 67 71 66, Brian Stuard 69 69 66, Danny Willett (Eng) 68 68 68
205 Joel Dahmen 65 71 69, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 68 69 68, Martin Laird (Sco) 68 66 71, Danny Lee (Nzl) 68 69 68, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 70 66 69, Ryan Palmer 69 64 72, Justin Rose (Eng) 67 70 68, Brendan Steele 70 67 68
206 Keegan Bradley 71 67 68, Thomas Detry (Bel) 67 68 71, Tony Finau 67 69 70, Bill Haas 65 68 73, Adam Hadwin (Can) 69 68 69, Maverick McNealy 68 69 69, Keith Mitchell 68 69 69, Sepp Straka (Aut) 66 71 69, Hudson Swafford 68 70 68
207 Rickie Fowler 66 72 69, Tom Hoge 72 66 69, Chris Kirk 64 73 70, Patton Kizzire 68 69 70, Scott Piercy 69 68 70, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 69 69
208 Andrew Putnam 68 68 72, Chez Reavie 66 72 70, Doc Redman 70 66 72, Patrick Reed 73 65 70, Kevin Tway 68 69 71, Vincent Whaley 70 68 70
209 Andrew Novak 66 72 71
210 Russell Henley 65 69 76, Greyson Sigg 69 69 72, Brandt Snedeker 66 71 73
