SHANGHAI — Even with two majors, five victories, a FedEx Cup title and over $22 million in earnings this year, Jordan Spieth offered an honest appraisal about the final World Golf Championship of the year. He really didn’t think he would have much of a chance in the HSBC Champions.
SHANGHAI — Even with two majors, five victories, a FedEx Cup title and over $22 million in earnings this year, Jordan Spieth offered an honest appraisal about the final World Golf Championship of the year. He really didn’t think he would have much of a chance in the HSBC Champions.
Now he does.
The third round at Sheshan International ended Sunday morning when Russell Knox returned to play one hole and it proved to be a wiser decision than trying to finish in the dark. He made birdie for a 4-under 68 and tied Kevin Kisner (70) for the 54-hole lead.
Dustin Johnson played mistake-free to get within one shot. Also one back was Li Haotong, the 20-year-old who gave China hope one of its own could win on a world stage.
And then there was Spieth, right where he has been so much of the year.
Before the third round, Spieth was 12 shots behind and wondering he could even make another par. He ended Friday with two birdies, and then raced up the leaderboard in soft conditions Saturday with a 9-under 63 to go from the middle of the pack to three shots behind.
Kisner chipped in for birdie on the 15th hole to go from a two-shot deficit to a tie for the lead when Knox three-putted for bogey, and the 31-year-old American pulled ahead with a birdie on the 16th and two pars to finish at 16-under 200.
Johnson, who won the HSBC Champions the last time he was here two years ago, has made 10 birdies in his last 21 holes and shot a 65. Li wasted no time getting the Chinese gallery fired up when he opened with four straight birdies on his way to a 66.
CHARLES SCHWAB CUP CHAMPIONSHIP
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Michael Allen held onto the lead in the Champions Tour’s season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship, and playing partner Bernhard Langer pulled within a stroke to easily remain in position to take the points title.
Allen shot a 1-under 69, making six birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey in breezy conditions on Desert Mountain’s Cochise Course. He had a 12-under 198 total.
The 56-year-old Scottsdale resident birdied the par-3 11th to open a six-stroke lead, then played the next four holes in 4 over. He rebounded with a birdie on the par-3 17th and parred the par-5 18th.
Langer birdied the final two holes for a 68. The 58-year-old German star is competing with Colin Montgomerie and Jeff Maggert for the Charles Schwab Cup points title and a $1 million annuity.
Montgomerie had a 71 and was tied for 18th in the 30-man field at 1 under. Maggert was tied for 21st at even par after a 71.
SANDERSON FARMS CHAMPIONSHIP
JACKSON, Miss. — Rain washed out all but 40 minutes of play in the Sanderson Farms Championship, further delaying the waterlogged event.
Roberto Castro topped the leaderboard at 15 under with rounds of 62 and 67 with 76 players yet to completed the second round at the Country Club of Jackson.
Bryce Molder and Jhonattan Vegas were second at 11 under, and Patrick Rodgers, Michael Thompson, Brian Davis and D.J. Trahan followed at 10 under.
Play is set to resume early Sunday. After the second round is completed, the third and fourth will be played. However, tournament officials are prepared to extend play into Monday if 72 holes can’t be completed Sunday. Clear conditions are expected Sunday and Monday.
TOTO JAPAN CLASSIC
SHIMA, Japan — Jenny Shin shot a 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over fellow South Korean player Ha-Neul Kim in the LPGA Tour’s Toto Japan Classic.
Shin had her second straight bogey-free round at Kintetsu Kashikojima, reaching 13 under with a birdie on the par-3 17th and closing with a par.
Shin moved to Torrance, California, when she was 9 years old and won the 2006 U.S. Girls’ Junior at 13. She’s winless in her five-year LPGA Tour career.
Kim had a 66. She has one victory this year in her first season on the Japan LPGA.
Angela Stanford was 11 under along with South Korea’s Sun-Ju Ahn and Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum. Stanford, tied for the first-round lead with fellow American Ryann O’Toole, followed her opening 65 with a 68. Ahn, a 19-time winner on the JLPGA, shot a 65, and Phatlum birdied six of the first eight holes in a 66. O’Toole had a 70 drop into a tie for eighth at 9 under.
WALGREENS CHARITY CHAMPIONSHIP
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Sweden’s Liselotte Neumann shot her second straight 4-under 68 for a three-stroke victory in the Legends Tour’s Walgreens Charity Championship.
The 49-year-old Neumann, from Sweden, has two senior victories and after winning 13 LPGA Tour titles. Neumann earned $30,000 in the 36-hole event at The Seagate Country Club.
Nicole Jeray was second after a 66. Pat Hurst (68), Juli Inkster (69) and Rosie Jones (70) tied for third at 4 under. Jan Stephenson won the Super Legends Division for players 63 and over, shooting a 73 for a one-stroke victory over Judy Dickinson.