Na fires 61 to take two-shot lead in Las Vegas; Rahm surges

Los Angeles: Kevin Na equalled his career-low round with a 10-under par 61 on Saturday to take a two-stroke lead over fellow American Patrick Cantlay in the PGA Tour Shriners Hospitals For Children Open.

On a day when plenty of players were going low on TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, Na produced another strong performance on the greens in following up his second-round 62.

His 22-under total of 191 was a 54-hole record for the tournament, a home fixture for the South Korean-born American who won the first of his three PGA Tour titles in this event in 2011.

“I feel comfortable, I feel confident,” said Na, who had 10 birdies without a bogey.

Cantlay, who won at TPC Summerlin in 2017 and finished second last year, kept the pressure on with eight birdies in his first 16 holes.

He faltered at the par-three 17th, where he was unable to get up and down from a greenside bunker, but closed with a birdie at 18 to cap a 63 for 193.

It was a further two strokes back to American Pat Perez, who had an eagle and seven birdies in a nine-under 62 for 195.

“I’ve still got to keep the pedal to the metal,” Na said of the task awaiting on Sunday.

“There’s a lot of low scores out here. Anybody could shoot eight- or nine-under.”

Na started the day in a four-way tie for the lead with Cantlay, Lucas Glover and Brian Stuard.

He opened with birdies at the first and second, but said his biggest putt of the day was a 22-footer to save par at the par-three fifth.

“I had nothing,” he said. “I hit it to about 25 feet and made a 25-footer that broke six feet for par.” He rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt at the eighth and a 30-footer at 10. After a 16-foot birdie at 13 and an eight-footer at 15 his five-foot birdie miss at 16 was a shock.

He rebounded quickly, however, closing with back-to-back birdies with putts of 14 and 12 feet.

Stuard and Glover were unable to gain ground, Glover posting a 66 that left him tied for fourth with Sam Ryder on 196 and Stuard finishing six shots off the pace after a 67. Meanwhile, local favourite and defending champion Jon Rahm stormed through the back nine on Saturday to move to within touching distance of regaining his Spanish Open title.

Rahm will take a commanding five-shot lead into the final day at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid after he carded a round of 63 to finish the day 17 under, ahead of fellow Spaniards Rafa Cabrera Bello and Samuel Del Val.

Agencies