By Rahul Banerji
Three golfers with very different approaches to the game shared the lead after day three of the 2018 Hero World Challenge at Albany in the Bahamas on Saturday.
Henrik Stenson has been hoping to return the winner’s circle for some time now. Jon Rahm has two titles this season while Tony Finau has just one in his entire professional career.
All three are keen to end 2018 on a winning note at the Hero World Challenge and have a chance to do so as they head into Sunday in the shared lead on 13-under par totals.
Close on their heels are Gary Woodland (11-under), defending champion Rickie Fowler (10-under), Xander Schauffele (9-under) and Dustin Johnson (9-under). It may be recalled that last year, Fowler came from seven shots behind to win.
Dead last
Meanwhile, tournament host, Tiger Woods (72) was at the bottom of the 18-man field and 11 off the pace. Woods dropped three shots in his first three holes but also had five birdies in his level par round.
Alex Noren, who aced the par-3 17th hole had a roller-coaster day with his last five holes going birdie, eagle, triple bogey, hole-in-one and birdie.
Noren returned a 70 after being 2-over for first 10 one-over through 13 holes.
Barren streak
Stenson, a two-time runner-up at the HWC, has been without a winfor 15 months since Wyndham in August, 2017.
For his part, tournament debutant Rahm, currently world no. 8 will want to close his out his year on a happy note as well while Finau is having his best season.
After his win in Puerto Rico back in March 2016, he has come close on more than one occasion this year with runner-up finishes at the Genesis Open, the Northern Trust Open and the WGC-HSBC.
Finau who has also been in the top-10 in three of the four Majors and three of the four FedExCup play-off events, said later, “I played nicely. I took care of the par 5s, and on this golf course, we have five of them. I think that’s what you have to do to play well, so I was able to do that today.”
Asked if he expected to play well on this course, Finau added, “You know, I always hope and expect to play well no matter what golf course we are on.”
Stenson too fancies his chances this Sunday.
Good chance
“It’s a three-way tie for the lead, yeah. So it’s very open in that sense. I remember last year the start that Rickie Fowler had was 8 under through 9, right? So it’s anyone’s tournament at this stage, so I’m just happy to be in that position.
“Winning is always nice. It never gets old no matter how big or small the tournament. You can’t say that this is a small tournament given the field.
“It’s small in terms of number of players, but who you’re playing against is obviously going to give you a nice boost if you manage to win it at the end of the day. A lot of world ranking points at stake.
“Given my injury problems from the summer onwards and how little I’ve played, I’ve started going in the wrong direction in the world rankings,so it would be nice to pick up a few good points here and start heading in the right direction and start going upwards.
“It’s getting tougher every year to be up there in the world rankings. If I can play some good golf in the near future, I hope I can move back into the top-20 and top-10 again in the next six months or so.”
Justin Rose, who needs to finish in the top-3 to regain the world no. 1 ranking, had four birdies in his final seven holes for a 68 and T8th place with Patrick Reed, who bounced back from his second round 78 with a 66 on the day.
Also read: Of sleepy snakes, sliding scores and a merited European title
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