American Brian Harman made a closing four-foot birdie for a five-under-par 65 and the sole lead after the third round at the Travelers Championship on Saturday.
Harman posted a 14-under 196 total at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, one stroke in front of two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson (68) and Canadian Graham DeLaet (64), who is seeking his first PGA Tour victory.
American Brandt Snedeker matched the best score of the day, a bogey-free 63, to vault within three shots of the lead with fellow American Zach Johnson and Englishman Paul Casey.
The only previous time Harman held the lead after 54 holes was nearly a year ago, when he closed the deal at the John Deere Classic to win his first and only PGA Tour victory.
“This is what I strive for, to get opportunities to win golf tournaments,” said Harman, who made the cut as a 17-year-old at the 2004 Travelers Championship. “I love this place. I’m looking forward to [Sunday]. Hopefully, we put on a good show and play a lot of good golf.”
Watson, who won the 2010 Travelers Championship and held the halfway lead on Friday, carded a 68 that included three birdies.
DeLaet supplied some drama when he came within a whisker of an ace on the short 277-yard par-four 15th, where his tee shot rolled by the edge of the cup to finish six feet behind the hole. He made the eagle putt.
Due to forecast stormy weather overnight, yesterday’s final round was to be played in threesomes, starting off the first and 10th tees just before noon, to allow time for the course to be cleaned up in the morning.
BMW INTERNATIONAL
England’s James Morrison opened up a two-shot lead after three rounds of the BMW International on Saturday as overnight leader Rafael Cabrera-Bello fell six shots off the pace.
Morrison, 30, had been one shot off the lead on Friday, but was in fine form on Saturday with a third-round 67 to reach 16-under-par for the tournament.
Victory yesterday would have given the Englishman his second European Tour title in two months after he triumphed in the Spanish Open last month.
“I played good again,” said Morrison, whose victory in Spain came five years after his maiden title in Madeira. “I didn’t really give anything away. The scoring has always been low over the years, so you have just got to keep going low and keep making birdies, and I did that.”
Chris Paisley of England is second going into the final round, with Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee a shot further back in third and Sweden’s Peter Hanson fourth on 12-under.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite