Viktor Hovland shot a 9-under 62 on Saturday, and will enter the final round of the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba holding a two-shot advantage.
The 24-year-old Norwegian was flawless during his third day at the El Camaleon course, carding nine pars and nine birdies, including back-to-back gains on Nos. 17 and 18, to secure the marquee position on 19 under.
“I just think with it being a narrow course helps me because my bad shots tend to not go in the trees,” said Hovland, who won here in 2020.
“So if I can always stay in between the tree lines, I can — I can kind of hit a lot of approaches on the greens because they are soft, and if I hit good iron shots and they land on the pin, they’re going to stop on the pin.
“Whenever I get into a flow where I’ve got my numbers dialed in and I’m swinging it good, it’s just kind of point and shoot.
“With the speed of these greens and being not so undulated, and usually when there is break, it tends to go just one way, and so for me, it allows me to be pretty aggressive on the putts and kind of trust my reads.”
Talor Gooch was alone in second after a bogey-free round of 63, which included a six-hole stretch of birdie-eagle-birdie-par-par-birdie on Nos. 12-17 to reach 17-under par.
“It was one of those days you wish you could bottle that come forth up and keep it forever,” said Gooch.
“The game came easy today. I hit a bunch of fairways, hit a bunch of greens. Nice when you get a chip-in, you make a 30-footer and those are the type of things you need to have happen to turn it from a 67 to 63, 65.
“I wish I could be that comfortable more often, that’s for sure.”
One further back was Justin Thomas, who shot a bogey-free 64 to sit solo third on 16-under par.
“I just did everything pretty well,” said Thomas. “I’m not doing anything great, I’m not doing anything bad, I’m cleaning up nicely on the greens.
“I feel like my speed on my lag putting, it’s not very good this week. I’ve had a couple really sloppy three-putts and had a couple nice saves today to prevent that again.
“No, it’s just I’m definitely making some of the shorter putts I need to, and it feels good because I know I’m not getting everything out of my rounds. I definitely drove it better today than the last two days, so I feel like if I drive it well again tomorrow, I should have a pretty good chance the last couple holes.”
Carlos Ortiz (67) was alone in fourth place on 14 under, one clear of J.J. Spaun (67) and Sergio Garcia (67), who shared the fifth position on 13 under.
2021 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba
Leaderboard: Top 10
Pos-Player-To Par-(Rd 3)
1. Viktor Hovland -19 (-9)
2. Talor Gooch -17 (-8)
3. Justin Thomas -16 (-7)
4. Carlos Ortiz -14 (-4)
5. J.J. Spaun -13 (-4)
5. Sergio Garcia -13 (-4)
7. Andrew Landry -12 (-4)
7. Aaron Wise -12 (-3)
7. Scottie Scheffler -12 (-1)
10. Brendon Todd -11 (-5)
10. Joaquin Niemann -11 (-4)
10. Seamus Power -11 (-4)
10. Denny McCarthy -11 (-4)
10. John Huh -11 (-4)
10. James Hahn -11 (-4)
10. Michael Thompson -11 (-2)
Notables
17. Tyrrell Hatton -10 (-4)
25. Abraham Ancer -9 (-3)
37. Matt Fitzpatrick -8 (-3)
37. Justin Rose -8 (-3)
45. Tony Finau -7 (-1)
54. Rickie Fowler -6 (-2)
60. Patrick Reed -5 (-1)
Odds To Win
1. Viktor Hovland -175
2. Talor Gooch +400
2. Justin Thomas +400
4. Carlos Ortiz +2500
5. Sergio Garcia +6600
Tee Times, Pairings
12:30 pm – Scheffler (-12), Todd (-11)
12:40 pm – Landry (-12), Wise (-12)
12:50 pm – Spaun (-13), Garcia (-13)
01:00 pm – Thomas (-16), Ortiz (-14)
01:10 pm – Hovland (-19), Gooch (-17)
