Justin Thomas watches his tee shot on the fifth hole at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, on Saturday during the third round of the Bridgestone Invitational.AKRON, Ohio - Location has made friends of PGA Tour golfers Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, who live near each other in southern Florida and said they spent last weekend practicing together at The Bear's Club in Jupiter.
Sunday at Firestone Country Club will be the eighth time this year they are paired together in a tournament, and the number will grow later this week when they play the opening two rounds with Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship.
This is the first time a trophy is at stake, though.
Thomas pulled away from the pack with five birdies in the middle of his round Saturday for a 3-under-par 67, giving him a three-shot lead over McIlroy and Ian Poulter going into the final round of the Bridgestone Invitational.
"We've played together a lot in tournaments, but never in this kind of situation," said Thomas, who was at 14-under 196 overall.
McIlroy played bogey-free on a course that finally started to get firm, atoning for a few missed birdie chances with key par putts. He already has won once this year, in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, though he felt he should have won more. He has been runner-up three times, most recently at the British Open last month.
"I played well enough to win a few times this year, and I only got over the line once," McIlroy said. "Tomorrow is a great opportunity to try and win again. I'll need a good round. I'm still a few behind. But yeah, I'm getting a little sick of the second places."
McIlroy made up three shots in the final round in 2014 when he rallied to beat Sergio Garcia at Firestone. It might be a taller order to take on Thomas, who has won twice this season and appears to have found his touch with the putter.
Starting with a pitching wedge from 129 yards into the breeze to 6 feet at No. 6, Thomas made birdie on every other hole through the 14th to pull away. No one could keep pace with Thomas, least of all Woods.
Starting the third round five shots behind, Woods didn't make a birdie until a 12-foot putt on the 12th hole, and he didn't make another. He wound up with a 73, leaving him 11 shots back and ending his streak of 10 straight rounds at par or better dating to the U.S. Open.
"It was very similar to the first day," Woods said. "Wasn't very sharp that first day, but I made everything. So today was about the same, and I didn't make anything."
That wasn't a problem for Thomas, whose six birdies included a chip-in from 30 feet behind the green on the par-3 12th.
He fell behind early with two bogeys in three holes, and a 10-foot par save in between from behind the fourth green kept him from falling farther behind. Poulter set the pace early and had a three-shot lead at one point until he dropped his shot from the bunker on the par-3 seventh, and then he had a mixed bag of birdies and bogeys that kept him from getting closer to the lead.
Jason Day, who threw away a chance to win the Bridgestone Invitational two years ago, had a 69 and was four shots behind in fourth. Marc Leishman (67) and Kyle Stanley (70) were another stroke back.
Poulter won the Houston Open this spring in the highlight of what has been a big turnaround for the Englishman, who is on the cusp of qualifying for the Ryder Cup. He made a pair of medium-length birdie putts to offset bogeys from the bunkers, but he fell out of a chance to be in the last group when he missed a six-foot par putt on the 17th.
"I'm going to have a chance," Poulter said. "So starting this week, tied 13th I think was my best-ever result. I'm tied second right now, so huge improvement and a little bit of work left to do. And hopefully, we can do it."
Baylor School graduate Luke List (71) was tied for 11th at 6 under.
Putnam to the top
RENO, Nev. - Andrew Putnam took the lead entering the final round of the Barracuda Championship, the PGA Tour's only modified Stableford scoring event, with a three-point advantage over Sam Saunders.
Putnam had eight birdies and a bogey at windy Montreux Golf and Country Club, scoring 15 points under the format that awards eight points for an albatross, five for an eagle, two for a birdie and zero for a par while subtracting a point for a bogey and three for a double bogey or worse.
Chasing his first PGA Tour victory, the 29-year-old Putnam had 38 points overall while paired with the 31-year-old Saunders - Arnold Palmer's grandson, he's also in search of his first win - who eagled the par-5 13th and 18th in a 12-point round.
Chad Campbell was third with 32 points after a 22-point day, while Shane Lowry eagled his last hole in an eight-point round to get to 30 points and fourth.
Baylor School graduate Harris English (3) was tied for 51st with 13 points, while fellow former Red Raiders standout Stephan Jaeger (minus-2) was 69th with six points.
Perry matches mark
BLAINE, Minn.- Kenny Perry tied a tournament record with a 12-under 60 and held a five-shot lead entering the final round of the 3M Championship.
Looking to become just the second three-time winner of the PGA Tour Champions event, Perry made two eagles and eight birdies in wet conditions at TPC Twin Cities. His two-round score of 126 is a tournament record.
Paul Goydos shot a 60 in the second round on his way to winning last year's event.
Perry, who won the event in 2014 and 2015, shot a 30 on the front nine Saturday, including holing out from 106 yards for eagle at the par-5 sixth. He birdied Nos. 12, 13, 16 and 17 on the back nine before an eagle at 18.
Glen Day (65) was second, with Tom Gillis (67), Lee Janzen (68) and Jerry Smith (70) tied for third at 10 under.
Soothed by song
LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England - Pornanong Phatlum made the course at Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club sing for her again as she held on to her overnight one-shot lead at the Women's British Open.
Pornanong said she has been singing Thai songs in her head to calm herself on a links course she admits to struggling on, though any such trouble hasn't been apparent.
She birdied the third, sixth, eighth and 11th holes, then dropped her first shot of the major on the par-3 12th, a bogey. It added up to a solid 3-under 69 in the third round and the prospect of a first win on the LPGA Tour, let alone a first major title.
She was at 13 under overall, one stroke ahead of England's Georgia Hall (69), whose scrambling through an erratic round kept her in contention for a first major title as well.
Ryu So-yeon was third at 11 under, one shot behind Hall, after climbing the leaderboard with a run of six birdies from the fifth to the 12th.
Big shift in Fiji
NATADOLA, Fiji - Indian's Gaganjeet Bhullar shot a 3-under 69, was at 8-under 208 overall and held a one-stroke lead entering the final round of the Fiji International.
Four Australians were tied for second at Natadola Bay Championship Golf Course: Andrew Dodt (72), Jarryd Felton (71), Jake McLeod (70) and Terry Pilkadaris (71).
New Zealand's Ben Campbell, who led by four strokes after 36 holes, dropped to fifth after a 77 that had him at 6 under overall. He was one stroke ahead of South Africa's Ernie Els (69), a four-time major championship winner whose 28 European Tour wins rank seventh all-time.