DUBLIN, Ohio — Bryson DeChambeau’s 66 has the 24-year-old all alone at the top of the leaderboard after 54 holes of play at the Memorial Tournament.
He sits at 14-under while three players are one back.
DeChambeau played a bogey-free round that had two birdies on the front nine and four on the back, including finishing up his round with one at 18.
Jaoquin Niemann, who held a piece of the lead after the first two rounds, is one of those at 13-under, as is second round co-leader Kyle Stanley. Both players shot 70 today.
“I didn’t play well enough but still really nice for what is coming tomorrow,” Niemann said. “It would be nice to get my first pro tournament here.”
Patrick Cantlay had a hole-in-one on No. 8 and survived two back-nine bogeys to shoot a 66 and be tied for second at 13-under.
Tiger Woods had the galleries roaring as the five-time Memorial champion climbed into a tie for the tournament lead for a while Saturday.
Woods eagled No. 5 and followed with birdies on 6, 7 and 9 to get to 10-under par. A birdie on 15 brought another roar from the crowd as it put him in a tie for the lead. But bogeys on 16 and 18 dropped Woods to 9-under and tied for seventh.
”I played really, really well,” Woods said. “I played beautifully, actually. Had total control of what I was doing out there and just didn’t finish it off.
“I am definitely not taking advantage of how well I’m hitting it. I hit the ball well enough to, shooting in the low 60s could have been pretty easy if I just had putted normally.”
Woods stuck around on the practice green for about an hour after his round to try to work out the kinks in his putting game.
While Woods was creating the most excitement in the afternoon, Rory McIlroy was one of the first off the tee Saturday and put together the day’s best round. He shot a 64 to move to 8-under for the tournament and is six behind DeChambeau. McIlroy got his day going with three birdies and an eagle on the front nine and strung together birdies on 11, 12 and 13 to get himself in contention.
The Howley Report 