Charley Hoffman sank a 70-foot birdie at the final hole to tie Kevin Kisner for the third-round lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida on Saturday.
Hoffman read a big left-to-right break perfectly, his ball curling into the centre of the cup on the same green at Bay Hill in Orlando where Tiger Woods holed so many clutch putts to clinch his eight victories in the event. Hoffman carded one-under-par 71, while Kisner fired a 68 to tie it up at 11-under 205 with one round left.
The two Americans have a three-shot lead over Englishmen Tyrrell Hatton and Matthew Fitzpatrick and Australian Marc Leishman. World number three Rory McIlroy (65) soared to the edge of contention, the day’s equal best score lifting the Northern Irishman within five shots of the lead.
Halfway leader Hoffman made a demoralising start with two straight bogeys, and further bogeys at the 14th and 15th holes left him in danger of falling off the leaderboard.
“I knew I needed a good finish to run down Kisner,” he told PGATour.com after turning his fortunes around with birdies at the final three holes. He has birdied the par-four 18th all three rounds. “Hopefully I don’t need a birdie tomorrow but at least the feelings are good going into it,” he said. Co-leader Kisner said he had learned that protecting a lead rarely works against the best players in the world. McIlroy is among those chasing the leaders. “I just played better, holed some putts,” said the man who needs to win next month’s Masters to complete the career grand slam of all four major championships.

Leading scores 
205 — Kevin Kisner 70-67-68, Charley Hoffman 68-66-71
208 — Tyrell Hatton (ENG) 72-69-67, Marc Leishman (AUS) 71-66-71, Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG) 67-69-72
209 — Adam Hadwin (CAN) 70-70-69, Lucas Glover 68-69-72
210 — Rory McIlroy (NIR) 74-71-65, Kyle Stanley 73-68-69, Greg Chalmers (AUS) 69-72-69
211 — Rickie Fowler 74-72-65, Justin Rose (ENG) 71-70-70, Paul Casey (ENG) 68-72-71, Harold Varner 70-70-71
212 — Billy Horschel 72-73-67, Martin Kaymer (GER) 73-71-68, Cameron Smith (AUS) 74-69-69, Francesco Molinari (ITA) 70-68-74
213 — Pat Perez 74-70-69, Michael Kim 72-71-70, Russell Henley 72-71-70, Keegan Bradley 71-71-71, Emiliano Grillo (ARG) 67-68-78.

Home Swede home for Arizona gal Nordqvist
Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist set a tournament course record with an 11-under 61 Saturday to take a two-stroke lead after the third round of the LPGA Tour’s Founders Cup. 
The score also tied her career best round score which she shot in the third round of the Mobile Bay Classic in 2013. The previous best tournament round score was a 62. Nordqvist, who was born in Eskilstuna outside of Stockholm, said she enjoys playing on the western United States.
“I always say I’m a west coast girl and people remind me I’m from Sweden,” she said.
Nordqvist went out in the afternoon at the Wildfire Golf Club and started quickly with a five-under par, 31 on her first nine holes. She played college golf in Arizona so feels at home on this course.
“They always say that home is where the heart is, and my heart is definitely still here,” said Nordqvist. “Even though I live in Florida now, this definitely feels like home. I have family and friends here, or seem like family.
“So I was staying with friends this week. It’s just been a fun week. It’s been busy first week back in the US, but just always feel special coming back here. I wish I could more often. Definitely, have a big smile on my face this week.” 
Nordqvist reached 21-under par 195 and has a two-stroke lead over opening round playing partners, Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand and American Stacy Lewis. 
“Yeah, I had a great first two days with Stacy and Ariya. I think we were 36-under par as a group for the first two days. Someone seemed to be birdieing almost every hole,” said Nordqvist. 
Ariya had three straight birdies on the back nine to finish with a bogey free 66 score. “I’m starting to make some putts today,” Ariya said. 
“I missed a pretty short one, but today is good.”
Ariya said Sunday will be a mental struggle.
“I’m going to be really want to commit with every shot I hit tomorrow.” 
Lewis recorded seven birdies and one bogey cruising to a six-under par in round three. “Making those two birdies coming in was huge. With the way this golf course is playing, two back is not a big deal,” she said. 

Leading scores after third round 
195 — Anna Nordqvist (SWE) 67-67-61
197 — Ariya Jutanugarn (THA) 64-67-66, Stacy Lewis 64-67-66
198 — Ryu So-Yeon (KOR) 69-65-64, Angel Yin 68-66-65, Chun In-Gee (KOR) 64-69-66
200 — Lydia Ko (NZL) 68-69-63, Nelly Korda 66-70-64, Park In-Bee (KOR) 67-66-67, Vicky Hurst 65-67-68
201 — Beth Allen 68-68-65, Jacqui Concolino 70-64-67, Caroline Masson (GER) 68-66-67, Karine Icher (FRA) 68-65-68, Park Sung-Hyun (KOR) 67-66-68.