Rory McIlroy earned a one-stroke lead over Louis Oosthuizen as the cream rose to the top in the third round at the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai on Saturday.
McIlroy put on a driving clinic for most of the day, his accuracy and prodigious length off the tee an impressive sight at Sheshan International.
The Northern Irishman carded a bogey-free five-under-par 67 that could have been considerably better had his putter been hotter, but his performance nevertheless was enough to move within striking distance of his fourth victory of the year.
A precise wedge for a tap-in birdie at the par-five 18th allowed McIlroy to inch ahead of Oosthuizen at 15-under 201.
“I think if I can go out tomorrow and play similar to how I did today, I should have a good chance to win,” McIlroy said.
“I probably played the best today that I’ve played all week. I drove the ball well, hitting my irons pretty good for the most part. I feel like I didn’t quite get as much out of the round as I could have but I’m not going to complain.
“I’m in the lead going into tomorrow so I just need to rest up and try to get out there and play another good, solid round.”
South African Oosthuizen threw down the gauntlet with birdies at the first five holes en route to a 65, the day’s best score in ideal conditions.
Oosthuizen, a runaway winner of the 2010 British Open and a playoff loser at the 2015 Open and 2012 Masters, was typically understated about his barnstorming performance.
“Sixty-five on Saturday is always nice,” said the easy-going 37-year-old who is just as much at home driving his tractor on his South African farm as driving a golf ball on the links.
“Played lovely, made nine birdies so I’m rolling the ball decent on the greens.
“Winning a world event would be a big achievement. I need to just go out and play some good golf.”
But it was not just a two-horse race, not with American defending champion Xander Schauffele and English halfway leader Matthew Fitzpatrick lurking two shots from the lead.
Schauffele made his move with birdies at the final three holes for a 68, while Fitzpatrick fired a 70.
Shane Lowry was once again stuck on a level par round of 72 – his third in a row this week – after he started with a bogey and a birdie and finished with the same.
Home favourite Li Haotong gave his large gallery plenty to cheer about early with five birdies in the first six holes in a bold quest to challenge for the first Chinese victory at a World Golf Championships event.
But the party did not last as he came undone with an error-strewn stretch that included triple-bogey at the par-four 13th, where he knifed a bunker shot over the green into a hazard.
He shot 74 and fell nine shots behind.
Collated third round scores in the WGC — HSBC Champions, Sheshan International GC, China (British unless stated, par 72):
201 Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 67 67 67
202 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 69 65
203 Xander Schauffele (USA) 66 69 68, Matthew Fitzpatrick 66 67 70
204 Paul Waring 73 65 66
205 Jason Kokrak (USA) 69 70 66, Sungjae Im (Kor) 66 69 70
206 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 68 71 67, Kevin Kisner (USA) 72 67 67
207 Victor Perez (Fra) 65 71 71, Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 69 72 66, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67 71 69
208 Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 70 69 69
209 Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 69 71 69
210 Haotong Li (Chn) 64 72 74, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 75 67 68, Adam Scott (Aus) 66 69 75, Justin Rose 69 70 71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70 70 70, Patrick Reed (USA) 72 69 69
211 Bubba Watson (USA) 70 69 72
212 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 74 67 71, Robert Macintyre 70 69 73, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 73 69 70, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 72 74 66, Romain Langasque (Fra) 75 68 69
213 Tyrrell Hatton 72 73 68, Yechun Yuan (Chn) 69 70 74, Billy Horschel (USA) 69 71 73
214 JT Poston (USA) 69 73 72, Charles Howell III (USA) 74 73 67, Tony Finau (USA) 69 70 75, Scott Hend (Aus) 75 69 70, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 68 73 73, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 70 73 71, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 73 72 69, Corey Conners (Can) 67 73 74
215 Phil Mickelson (USA) 71 69 75, Kurt Kitayama (USA) 70 72 73, Andrew Putnam (USA) 71 71 73, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 72 68 75, Kevin Tway (USA) 71 72 72, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 73 71 71
216 Matthew Millar (Aus) 69 73 74, Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 70 74 72, Neil Schietekat (Rsa) 70 72 74, Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 74 72, Keegan Bradley (USA) 73 72 71, Chan Kim (USA) 71 70 75, Cameron Smith (Aus) 70 72 74, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 71 70 75, Shane Lowry (Irl) 72 72 72
217 Lucas Glover (USA) 73 70 74, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 71 71 75, Paul Casey 75 71 71, Bryce Easton (Rsa) 70 73 74, Jordan Spieth (USA) 70 73 74
218 Chez Reavie (USA) 69 74 75
219 Mikumu Horikawa (Jpn) 74 68 77
220 Justin Harding (Rsa) 75 74 71, Adam Hadwin (Can) 74 77 69, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 73 73 74
221 Tae Hee Lee (Kor) 75 73 73, Yosuke Asaji (Jpn) 70 75 76, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 70 74 77, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 72 75 74
222 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 69 79 74, Jake McLeod (Aus) 70 73 79
223 Matt Wallace 69 84 70, Zecheng Dou (Chn) 71 80 72, Tommy Fleetwood 74 76 73, Ashun Wu (Chn) 80 71 72, Zheng kai Bai (Chn) 73 76 74, Danny Willett 68 77 78, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 74 74 75
226 Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 76 75 75
236 Daniel Nisbet (Aus) 77 80 79
