Justin Rose shot a six-under-par 66 on Friday to move to 18-under and has a two-stroke lead after the third round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.
England's Rose had five birdies, an eagle and a bogey at the Arnold Palmer Course at PGA West, one of four courses used in the pro-am tournament that features celebrities and amateurs.
The temperature was about 8oC, mild for most of the country, but considered low enough for most of the warm-blooded citizens in the state to petition for disaster relief.
Rose is from England but lives mostly in Florida, and he was not affected by sprinkles, 16kph winds or chilly temperatures.
"It was more the cold to be honest," Rose said. "I'm becoming a bit of a Floridian now I must say; I'm not used to the cold anymore."
US player Scott Verplank, who shared the second-round lead with Rose, shot a 68 and is at 16-under. Verplank had five birdies and a bogey.
Lucas Glover, John Rollins and first-round leader Robert Allenby, of Australia, all are tied for third at 13-under.
Germany's Bernhard Langer had the best round of the day, a nine-under 63 at Bermuda Dunes and jumped from a tie for 89th to tied for 13th.
Langer made two straight eagles, a hole in one on No. 7 and an eagle putt.
Phil Mickelson, who is the only player in the top 30 of the World Golf Rankings entered in the event, shot three-under-par 69 and is seven-under for the tournament.
The cold didn't seem to bother Langer. The 49-year-old made two straight eagles, a hole in one on No. seven and an eagle putt.
"I was playing good," Langer said of his round before the two eagles. "I was four-under on the front nine. I played very solid."
Now with two days remaining in the tournament, Langer wants to make another big jump.
"I think it's a very good score under the conditions as well," he said. "I imagine scores will not be as good as the first two days. I was at one-under, which is nowhere. Now I'm almost in contention."
RECORD DEFEAT: The Shanghai-based ‘Oriental Sports Daily’ said the drubbing was so disastrous, and taste so bitter, that all that is left is ‘numbness’ Chinese soccer fans and media rounded on the national team yesterday after they experienced fresh humiliation in a 7-0 thrashing to rivals Japan in their opening Group C match in the third phase of Asian qualifying for the 2026 World Cup. The humiliation in Saitama on Thursday against Asia’s top-ranked team was China’s worst defeat in World Cup qualifying and only a goal short of their record 8-0 loss to Brazil in 2012. Chinese President Xi Jinping once said he wanted China to host and even win the World Cup one day, but that ambition looked further away than ever after a
‘KHELIFMANIA’: In the weeks since the Algerian boxer won gold in Paris, national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women In the weeks since Algeria’s Imane Khelif won an Olympic gold medal in women’s boxing, athletes and coaches in the North African nation say national enthusiasm is inspiring newfound interest in the sport, particularly among women. Khelif’s image is practically everywhere, featured in advertisements at airports, on highway billboards and in boxing gyms. The 25-year-old welterweight’s success in Paris has vaulted her to national hero status, especially after Algerians rallied behind her in the face of uninformed speculation about her gender and eligibility to compete. Amateur boxer Zougar Amina, a medical student who has been practicing for a year, called Khelif an
Crowds descended on the home of 17-year-old Chinese diver Quan Hongchan after she won two golds at the Paris Olympics while gymnast Zhang Boheng hid in a Beijing airport toilet to escape overzealous throngs of fans. They are just two recent examples of what state media are calling “toxic fandom” and Chinese authorities have vowed to crack down on it. Some of the adulation toward China’s sports stars has been more sinister — fans obsessing over athletes’ personal lives, cyberbullying opponents or slamming supposedly crooked judges. Experts say it mirrors the kind of behavior once reserved for entertainment celebrities before
GOING GLOBAL: The regular season fixture is part of the football league’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the sport to international destinations The US National Football League (NFL) breaks new ground in its global expansion strategy tomorrow when the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers face off in the first-ever grid-iron game staged in Brazil. For one night only, the land of Pele and ‘The Beautiful Game’ will get a rare glimpse into the bone-crunching world of American football as the Packers and Eagles collide at Sao Paulo’s Neo Quimica Arena, the 46,000-seat home of soccer club Corinthians. The regular season fixture is part of the NFL’s increasingly ambitious plans to spread the US’ most popular sport to new territories following previous international fixtures