Young American Kyle Stanley has powered his way to a commanding five-shot lead after the third round of the US PGA Tour event in California.
Searching for a maiden title, the 24-year-old fired an impressive four-under-68 on Saturday to move to an imposing 18-under for the tournament at Torrey Pines.
He is five clear of John Huh and John Rollins (both 68) who are tied second at 13-under-par. Bill Haas (70) and Sang-Moon Bae (70) are tied fourth a shot further back at 12-under. Stanley’s 54-hole total of 198 tied the tournament record set by Tiger Woods in 2008 and is the first time he’s led an event heading to the final day.
It would appear it’s his title to lose. “We still have one more round to play,” Stanley said cautiously.
“I’m really happy with where I’m at, but I still have to go out there tomorrow and just keep playing golf.”
Rod Pampling (68) is the leading Australian in a tie for 11th but hopes of an Aussie victory are slim at best considering the Queenslander is nine shots back at nine-under-par.
Despite the mammoth gap, Pampling has refused to concede defeat and, while he knows it would take a mini miracle for him to accept the trophy, he certainly thinks Stanley isn’t home yet.
“It’s not over,” Pampling said. “If he gets a bit tight and starts missing some fairways, no lead is safe. The rough is hard work and the greens are getting firmer, so you don’t have the luxury of hitting out of the rough with no spin and still stopping it.
“There just isn’t a big enough lead around this golf course but I’m not worried about him.
“I’ve seen so much happen out here that nothing surprises so I just have to focus on my game and, if I can put in a score, then who knows?
“I am really about just consolidating my play, putting up another nice score and seeing where that has me finish.
“We are in a position now where we are looking for a top 10 for sure but I can’t focus too heavily on it.”
Stanley is fairly confident the moment won’t get the better of him, claiming he’d have no trouble sleeping on the lead.
“I feel good. I think the biggest thing is you can’t necessarily go out there and try to protect it,” he said. “You’ve got to really just keep doing what got you to this point.
“I’m not going to be any more conservative tomorrow. I’ll stick to my game plan off the tee and hopefully just continue to give myself a lot of chances.
“Winning is something that you dream about as a kid, so it would be certainly nice for it to happen. But like I said, I still have one round left.”
Robert Allenby (73) was the next-best Australian in a tie for 19th at eight-under-par.
Greg Chalmers, chasing crucial world-ranking points so he can force his way into the Masters, could only manage an even-par 70 round to stay at seven-under-par.
It left him in a tie for 25th with, among others, Geoff Ogilvy who posted an impressive five-under 67 on Saturday to jump up 43 places.
Marc Leishman (-5, T44), Aaron Baddeley (-5, T44) and Nick O’Hern (-3, T57) are well off the pace while Jarrod Lyle (-1, T74) was subjected to a third-round cut and won’t play on Sunday.