American pair Billy Horschel and Talor Gooch will share a one-shot lead going into Sunday’s final day of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Horschel followed up his second-round 71 with another one-under-par total after four birdies and three bogeys at Bay Hill on Saturday.
Gooch hit four birdies and as many bogeys in a level-par 72, after scores of 69 and 68 in his first two rounds.
Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who began the third round as outright leader after a six-under 66 on Friday, followed up with a three-over 75 and sits a shot off the pace.
Rory McIlroy, who led the field after the opening day with a seven-under round of 65, dropped two places and is tied in sixth after a four-over par 76.
Northern Ireland’s McIlroy double-bogeyed the 15th and dropped shots at five other holes, while he made birdies at the 12th, 13th and 16th as he ended the day four shots off the lead.
Fellow countryman Graeme McDowell is also tied for sixth after climbing 24 places on the leaderboard thanks to a three-under round of 69.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick moved into contention, five shots behind the leaders and tied for ninth, after shooting a two-under-par 70.
Tyrell Hatton dropped 10 places and is now in joint-12th place after following rounds of 69 and 68 with a six-over 78, which included seven bogeys and a solitary birdie at the fourth hole.
Meanwhile over in Singapore, world number one Ko Jin-young hit five birdies in the last six holes to beat Lee Jeong-eun and overnight leader Chun In-gee at the final hole and win the HSBC Women’s World Championship title at Sentosa Golf Club on Sunday.
Leona Maguire finished in a tie for 13th after a final round 68, her best effort of the week. She carded five birdies and one bogey to pick up four strokes across the round.
A birdie at the 18th gave Ko the title for the first time by two shots as former US Open winner Lee, joint leader going down the last, imploded around the final green.
Ko rolled in her third shot at the par-four from 12 feet to move to 17-under par while Lee’s double-bogey left her three shots behind the winner with Chun taking joint-second alongside Lee Min-jee.
“I played well today, but it’s tough to go round playing with two amazing Korean players. We’re close friends,” said Ko, who has won six of the last 10 LPGA events.
“I had a lot more confidence on the back nine than on the front nine, so I got a lot of birdies on the back nine.”
Overnight leader Chun claimed a birdie at the second to extend her early advantage, but she was soon left trailing as those around her picked up the pace.
However, she pulled to within a shot of the leaders with a birdie at the 13th and another at the 16th left her a shot behind the leaders.
Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul put herself in contention with five birdies in the opening seven holes before a bogey at the penultimate hole wrecked her chances of the title, with the teenager eventually finishing in a tie for fourth on 14-under.
Ko, meanwhile, had birdied the eighth and ninth to stay in the hunt, but a dropped shot at the 12th looked to have halted her progress.
But birdies at the 13th and 14th holes were followed by another at the par-three 15th when she sent her tee shot through the green, only to roll her putt from well off the edge in for a birdie from 25 feet.
That hauled the 26-year-old back into contention and an eight-foot putt at the 16th gave Ko a fourth consecutive birdie to move into a share of the lead.
With the pressure mounting, Lee Jeong-eun endured a horrendous time around the final green, over-hitting a bunker shot off the other side of the putting surface and taking another three strokes to hole out.
That left Ko to roll in yet another birdie putt to win by two strokes.
Arnold Palmer Invitational Leaderboard
USA unless stated, Par 72
209 Billy Horschel (USA) 67 71 71, Talor Gooch (USA) 69 68 72
210 Viktor Hovland (Nor) 69 66 75
211 Scottie Scheffler (USA) 70 73 68
212 Gary Woodland (USA) 70 72 70
213 Chris Kirk (USA) 69 76 68, Graeme McDowell (N Irl) 68 76 69, Rory McIlroy (N Irl) 65 72 76
214 Corey Conners (Can) 72 73 69, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 73 71 70, Russell Henley (USA) 70 72 72,
215 Charles Howell III (USA) 68 73 74, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 68 77 70, Nick Watney (USA) 74 72 69, Will Zalatoris (USA) 68 77 70, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 69 68 78
216 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 73 74 69, Keegan Bradley (USA) 71 75 70, Sam Burns (USA) 72 69 75, Tom Hoge (USA) 78 69 69, Max Homa (USA) 69 74 73, Martin Laird (Sco) 72 69 75, Jon Rahm (Esp) 72 70 74, Aaron Wise (USA) 69 73 74, Beau Hossler (USA) 67 74 75
217 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 74 73 70, Patton Kizzire (USA) 69 72 76, Troy Merritt (USA) 71 72 74, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 72 74 71, Taylor Pendrith (Can) 71 72 74, J J Spaun (USA) 67 75 75, Cameron Young (USA) 70 71 76
218 Paul Casey (Eng) 71 70 77, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 73 71 74, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 70 73 75, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 69 76 73, Jason Kokrak (USA) 73 74 71, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 70 76 72, Taylor Moore (USA) 71 75 72, Ian Poulter (Eng) 68 75 75, Adam Scott (Aus) 68 76 74
219 Cameron Champ (USA) 70 75 74, Rickie Fowler (USA) 70 73 76, Lanto Griffin (USA) 70 73 76, Adam Long (USA) 69 78 72, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 74 73 72, Nick Taylor (Can) 70 77 72, Davis Thompson (USA) 73 71 75, Brendon Todd (USA) 73 72 74, Vincent Whaley (USA) 72 75 72, Danny Willett (Eng) 73 71 75
220 Sergio Garcia (Esp) 75 70 75, Denny McCarthy (USA) 73 74 73, Adam Schenk (USA) 70 74 76, Brendan Steele (USA) 70 73 77, Lee Westwood (Eng) 70 74 76, David Lipsky (USA) 71 71 78
221 Matt Jones (Aus) 70 75 76, Marc Leishman (Aus) 70 73 78, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 73 72 76, Patrick Rodgers (USA) 72 75 74, Alex Smalley (USA) 73 71 77
222 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 70 76 76, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 73 74 75, Zach Johnson (USA) 72 75 75, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 73 73 76, John Pak (USA) 74 73 75, Pat Perez (USA) 71 75 76, Sam Ryder (USA) 73 72 77, Matthew Wolff (USA) 72 73 77
223 Lucas Glover (USA) 74 72 77, Maverick McNealy (USA) 73 74 76
224 Danny Lee (Nzl) 73 74 77, Keith Mitchell (USA) 72 74 78, Chez Reavie (USA) 72 75 77
225 Greyson Sigg (USA) 71 75 79
226 Hayden Buckley (USA) 69 73 84
Final round scores & totals in the LPGA Tour HSBC Women’s World Championship Singapore
(USA unless stated, Par 72):
271 Jin-Young Ko (Kor) 69 67 69 66
273 Min-Jee Lee (Aus) 71 69 70 63, Ind-Gee Chun (Kor) 70 68 66 69
274 Jeon-Geun Lee (Kor) 70 70 65 69, Atthaya Thitikul (Tha) 69 68 70 67
275 Brooke Henderson (Can) 69 68 71 67, Hannah Green (Aus) 74 69 66 66, Amy Yang (Kor) 69 67 71 68
277 Danielle Kang 68 71 68 70, A-Lim Kim (Kor) 68 70 73 66
278 Nasa Hataoka (Jpn) 72 71 67 68, Xiyu Lin (Chn) 69 72 71 66
279 Momoko Ueda (Jpn) 71 71 73 64, Leona Maguire (Irl) 70 72 69 68, Perrine Delacour (Fra) 70 72 69 68, Sarah Schmelzel 69 71 73 66
280 Ind-Bee Park (Kor) 68 71 73 68, Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 72 68 71 69, Pajaree Anannarukarn (Tha) 69 69 71 71, Megan Khang 69 68 73 70, Yealimi Noh 75 64 71 70, Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Den) 69 73 71 67
281 Lydia Ko (Nzl) 69 73 72 67, Ayaka Furue (Jpn) 72 70 71 68, Gaby Lopez (Mex) 70 70 71 70
282 Hyo-Joo Kim (Kor) 72 70 72 68, Paphangkorn Tavatanakit (Tha) 67 74 71 70, Wei Ling Hsu (Tai) 70 71 74 67, Madelene Sagstroem (Swe) 71 69 71 71, Su-Hyun Oh (Aus) 69 70 71 72, Carlota Ciganda (Spa) 70 72 71 69, Jeong-Eun Lee (Kor) 71 73 69 69
284 Jenny Shin (Kor) 70 71 70 73, Stacy Lewis 73 72 71 68
285 Moriya Jutanugarn (Tha) 74 72 70 69, Celine Boutier (Fra) 72 72 69 72, Som-Yeon Ryu (Kor) 72 71 71 71, Jennifer Kupcho 69 71 71 74, Angel Yin 69 69 73 74, Chella Choi (Kor) 74 69 74 68, Marina Alex 74 74 70 67, Alison Lee 72 70 74 69
286 Emily Kristine Pedersen (Den) 71 70 75 70, Yuka Saso (Jpn) 71 73 73 69, Emma Talley 72 70 72 72, Min Lee (Tai) 71 72 72 71
287 Hinako Shibuno (Jpn) 76 70 73 68
288 Sei-Young Kim (Kor) 74 74 67 73
289 Esther Henseleit (Ger) 71 72 75 71
290 Lizette Salas 70 75 74 71
291 Mina Harigae 74 74 71 72, Brittany Altomare 74 74 74 69, Caroline Masson (Ger) 70 74 73 74, Thidapa Suwannapura (Tha) 72 77 73 69, Ashleigh Buhai (Rsa) 69 74 77 71
292 Wichanee Meechai (Tha) 73 76 76 67, Sarah Kemp (Aus) 75 71 73 73
294 Matilda Castren (Fin) 74 75 74 71, Yu Liu (Chn) 72 74 77 71
295 Melissa Reid (Eng) 78 72 76 69
296 Xiaowen Yin (Chn) 81 70 72 73, Jennifer Coleman 79 68 77 72
299 Sung-Hyun Park (Kor) 75 76 72 76
303 Sock Hwee Koh (Sgp) 80 79 71 73
ends
060727 MAR 22
