Rory McIlroy stepped on the gas at the Zozo Championship to card his second successive five-under-par 67 but he remains ten shots behind Justin Thomas, who left it until late to maintain his lead with back-to-back birdies on the 16th and 17th.
After shooting to the top of the leaderboard with a stellar round of 67 in California on Friday, Thomas sunk birdies on his opening two holes as he looked set for another big day.
But with an abundance of low scores among the chasing pack, Thomas cooled off throughout the rest of his opening nine, picking up just one more birdie and a bogey to head into the turn at two under.
He fell out of the lead on the back nine, nabbing just one more birdie on the 11th, before his late surge proved just enough to propel him back to the top of the leaderboard with a 67.
"It was a good fight, hung in there well," summed up Thomas, who will be bidding for his 14th career PGA Tour win.
"I felt like I definitely didn't play as well as I did the first two days or didn’t have my best stuff by any means, but to shoot a round like that is huge on a course like this."
Finding another gear. 📈@JustinThomas34 for the lead!#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/pkT3zffyfq
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 25, 2020
Thomas sits one shot in front of Spaniard Jon Rahm, who surged up the leaderboard on Saturday thanks to a stellar round of 63.
While the world's number two and three ranked players will have the spotlight, there will be plenty of challengers out ahead of them, with 11 players within four of the lead on a the Thousand Oaks, California layout that is surrendering plenty of low scores.
American Lanto Griffin briefly topped the leaderboard on the back of four straight birdies to open his round and held on for a four-under 68 to sit just two off the pace.
Lurking three back are Colombian Sebastian Munoz (66) and Americans Ryan Palmer (66) and Patrick Cantlay (68), who has gone bogey-free through three rounds.
McIlroy snapped his club in frustration during his first round one-over 73, but he's steadied things since.
He sank seven birdies in his third round, a fine effort tarnished a little by a sloppy double bogey on the par-four ninth. McIlroy is nine-under for the tournament in a tie for 36th.
Left near the bottom of the leaderboard after a horrific opening round, Tiger Woods had a bounce back 66 on Friday, but the defending champion was unable to build on that effort returning a one-under 71.
Woods arrived at one of his favourite venues chasing a recording-breaking 83rd PGA Tour win. But that mark will have to wait, with the 15-time major winner entering the final round 16 shots behind the leader.
They say trees are 90% air...@TigerWoods put that theory to the test.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/WwTbjP3geR
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 24, 2020
