Seamus Power closed out his Saturday round at 3-under leaving him at 12-under par for the weekend, as the Waterford man sits in a three-way tie for 22nd heading into the final day at the 3M Open.
Power, who has played some of his best golf of the year so far this week failed to replicate his second round scoring on the par-5’s, but still managed to be 2-under on the scorable par-5’s – three shots off his second round.
Power will need a strong Sunday round if he is to add to his 20 top 10 finishes, one of which came earlier this year at the Valspar Championship.
At the top of the leaderboard, a hole-in-one for Thorbjørn Olesen at the par-3 eighth helped keep the Dane right in the hunt heading into the final day and the 35-year-old shares the lead at 18-under par alongside American Akshay Bhatia.
It was Olesen’s first hole in one on Tour and was a well struck knocked down 6-iron to a back pin on the 209-yard hole, as the ball took three hops and found the bottom of the cup.
“We were between 7 and 6. Obviously it was a back pin. It just felt like I couldn’t get there with a 7, so we went for a soft 6-iron. Obviously, a big bonus to see it go in… It’s been a long time since I’ve had one, so it was nice”, said the Dane.
This is the first time Oleson has held a 54-hole lead on Tour and a win on Sunday would make him the first Danish player to win on the PGA Tour and the 1,000th different winner, while his 195 total is his lowest 54-hole total on Tour in what is his 3M Open debut.
“It would mean a lot. Winning is what we’re trying to do every week. Obviously, I haven’t won over here, but it’s a great opportunity and I’m going to try my best for sure. We’ll see what happens”, he explained.
Tied with Olesen is Akshay Bhatia, who matched his career low round and returned an 8-under par score on Saturdy to see him jump seven places as the 23-year-old American looks for his third Tour win, but his first win of this year.
“All in all, just a pretty solid round. Felt like I did a pretty good job of playing out of the rough today”, said Bhatia
“I didn’t hit it particularly great off the tee, but thankfully greens are soft enough to where you can kind of do that”, he added honestly.
It has been a tough year for Bhatia. Sitting 46th in the FedEx Cup rankings with just three top ten finishes this season, his best finish being a T3 at The Players Championship.
“I definitely feel like it’s been a demoralising season for most of the year, obviously The Players was my best finish… and then after that it’s just been a decline… But I’m just trying to play solid golf and hopefully the cards fall my way tomorrow.”, he said.
Meanwhile Kurt Kitayama was the best of the bunch in round three, shooting a formidable round of 60 (11-under) as the 32-year-old leapt 41 places into T3 and is alongside Takumi Kanaya, Sam Stevens and Jake Knapp just one stroke behind the leaders at –17.
Kitayama’s round was his professional career best and he has his brother Daniel as his caddie for the weekend, as the American seems to have conquered his frequent misses off the tee.
“I feel like I’m hitting it straighter and just more comfortable pulling out driver on holes I would never have hit driver on, and I think that’s been the key”, said Kitayama.
“I think overall (I’m) probably a more complete, more consistent ball-striker. I just feel more comfortable over shots, tough shots, (and) feel more comfortable hitting the hard shot”, he added.
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