BMW Championship – third-round leaderboard
-17 W Clark (US); -12 R McIlroy (NI), P Cantlay (US); -11 C Gotterup (US), G Woodland (US); -10 C Morikawa (US); -9 S J Im (Kor); -8 M McNealy (US), R Hisatsune (Jpn), E Cole (US), JJ Spaun (US)
Selected others: -5 R MacIntyre (Sco); -4 A Rai (Eng), M Fitzpatrick (Eng); -1 J Rose (Eng), A Fitzpatrick (Eng); +2 T Fleetwood (Eng)
Rory McIlroy struck a five-under 65 to move to joint-second on day three at the BMW Championship.
The Northern Irishman improved from a day two round of 69 that cost him his first-day lead, birdieing four of the last six holes to move up to second spot on 12 under.
American Patrick Cantlay of the United States is level with McIlroy, having shot a 66 on Saturday, while his compatriot Wyndham Clark extended his lead at Bellerive Country Club to five shots with a 65.
Clark double-bogeyed the opening hole but was superb thereafter, birdieing twice and then hitting an eagle on the eighth to go into the turn on two under.
He then birdied four of the next five holes before bogeying the last, returning to the clubhouse on -17 overall.
The home duo of Chris Gotterup and Gary Woodland sit on -11 overnight with compatriot Collin Morikawa on -10 and South Korea’s Im Sung-Jae on -9.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and American world number one Scottie Scheffler struck 68s to finish in a group of eight on -15, with England’s Aaron Rai and Matthew Fitzpatrick a shot behind.
The experienced English pair of Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood both slipped down the field after over-par rounds. Rose shot 73, to leave him on -1 going into the final day, while Fleetwood’s 74 put him on +2.
