Newton Square, PA – Justin Rose shot a 64 on Saturday and will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the BMW Championship.
Starting the day two back of overnight leader Xander Schauffele, Rose reeled off four-straight birdies on Nos. 2-5, and two more on 8 and 9 to turn in 29. A back-nine of nine pars, though, gave hope to the chasing pack, as Rose signed for a three-day score of 17-under par.
“Obviously good day today. It was a day where I maybe didn’t feel like I actually played that well, to be honest with you but a good day of scoring,” said Rose.
“Going on the front-9 managed to take advantage of all the holes where I had wedges in my hand and just made a couple of putts here and there and kind of felt like tomorrow’s weather the edge of it was just beginning to feel like it was coming in towards the end of the round, the wind was picking up.
“Playing certainly the last couple holes it was about just get into the clubhouse, really. All the damage for me was on the front-9 and couldn’t make a lot happen on the back-9. Didn’t hit enough fairways, I felt, to really give myself too many looks.”
One back was Schauffele, who made his only bogey of the day on 18 to drop out of the lead, and sit alongside Rory McIlroy (63) at 16-under par.
Tommy Fleetwood shot his second-straight 62 and was tied with Rickie Fowler (65) at 15-under par, one clear of Keegan Bradley (66) who was solo-sixth.
Rounding out the top 10 were Francesco Molinari (64), Justin Thomas (66), Billy Horschel (66), and Hideki Matsuyama (67). The foursome were tied for 10th at 13-under par.
Tiger Woods carded a 66 and was among a group of four players tied at 12-under par. Jordan Spieth shot a 4-under par 66 to move up nine spots to T39, but was still projected to drop out of the top 30 and miss the Tour Championship for the first time in his career.
With the weather forecast calling for heavy rains on Sunday, tee times were moved up to 8 am. The final threesome will be Rose, McIlroy and Schauffele.
2018 BMW CHAMPIONSHIP
TOP 10: THIRD ROUND
POS-PLAYER-TO PAR-TODAY
1. Justin Rose -17 (-6)
2. Xander Schauffele -16 (-3)
2. Rory McIlroy -16 (-7)
4. Tommy Fleetwood -15 (-8)
4. Rickie Fowler -15 (-5)
6. Keegan Bradley -14 (-4)
7. Francesco Molinari -13 (-6)
7. Justin Thomas -13 (-4)
7. Billy Horschel -13 (-4)
7. Hideki Matsuyama -13 (-3)
STAT LEADERS
DRIVING
1. Tony Finau – 322.9 yards (T15)
2. Rory McIlroy – 322.2 yards (T2)
3. Peter Uihlein – 316.9 yards (T44)
18. Justin Rose – 306.8 yards (1st)
FAIRWAYS
1. Brian Gay – 39/42, 90.5% (T50)
2. Bryson DeChambeau – 37/42, 88.1% (T26)
3. Chris Kirk – 36/42, 85.7% (T50)
21. Justin Rose – 35/42, 73.8% (1st)
GREENS
1. Hideki Matsuyama – 50/54, 92.6% (T7)
2. Billy Horschel – 48/54, 88.9% (T7)
2. Brooks Koepka – 48/54, 88.9% (T33)
23. Justin Rose – 44/54, 81.5% (1st)
PUTTS/GIR
1. Keegan Bradley – 1.571/66 putts (6th)
2. Rory McIlroy – 1.578/71 putts (T2)
3. Xander Schauffele – 1.600/72 putts (T2)
10. Justin Rose – 1.659/73 putts (1st)
VIDEO: ROUND-3 HIGHLIGHTS
FEDEXCUP TOP-30 PROJECTIONS
Only the top 30 players move on to the Tour Championship at East Lake.
Two players are projected to move from outside the top 30 and into the field for the Tour Championship:
Projected-Player-R3 Pos-Current
12. Xander Schauffele (T2) 41st
30. Keegan Bradley (6) 52nd
Two players are projected to move from inside the top 30 and miss the Tour Championship:
Projected-Player-R3 Pos-Current
31. Jordan Spieth (T39) 27th
32. Emiliano Grillo (T58) 29th
FEDEXCUP TOP-10 PROJECTIONS
The top five players entering the Tour Championship will control their own destiny and will win the FedExCup with a victory at East Lake.
Here’s a look at the top 5 (and 10) projected after the third round:
Projected-Player-R3 Pos-Current
1. Bryson DeChambeau (T26) 1st
2. Justin Rose (1st) 3rd
3. Justin Thomas (T7) 3rd
4. Dustin Johnson (T33) 4th
5. Tony Finau (T15) 4th
6. Brooks Koepka (T33) 6th
7. Bubba Watson (T26) 7th
8. Rory McIlroy (T2) 14th
9. Cameron Smith (66) 8th
10 Jason Day (T15) 10th
EXIT QUESTION
Justin, when is the last time you were involved in a shoot-out like this? Just seems the scores are going out of control.
ROSE: Maybe Colonial felt like a little bit like this, par 70 golf course that was also a little bit soft. There we were 20-under there through four rounds. Felt like it was a golf course you had to keep making birdies.
If the weather was fair tomorrow then I’d say yeah, you need another round in the mid 60s. I don’t quite know how tomorrow is going to play out. I don’t think anyone knows what to expect. One shot at a time tomorrow.
In terms of who is behind me on the leaderboard, there’s going to be guys gunning to play well and guys are going to play well tomorrow. One shot lead doesn’t really mean much, doesn’t change the approach tomorrow. I got to go really low and play better than the guys around me.