C.T. Pan of the Chinese Taipei produced a glorious birdie-birdie finish to open up a two-shot lead following the third round at the RBC Canadian Open as he seeks to end a four-year title drought on the PGA TOUR.
A second successive 6-under 66 at Oakdale Golf and Country Club here propelled the 31-year-old Pan to 14-under 202 in the US$9 million PGA TOUR tournament, with defending champion Rory McIlroy (66) leading a star-studded chasing pack on 12-under which includes Tommy Fleetwood (64) and Justin Rose (66) on Saturday.
McIlroy, who opened with a 71 on Thursday, got his three-peat bid back on track with a bogey-free card comprising of six birdies. The reigning FedExCup champion is aiming to become the first player since Steve Stricker (John Deere Classic 2009-2011) to accomplish the rare feat.
Chasing a second career victory since his breakthrough in 2019 RBC Heritage, Pan earned his first 54-hole lead on TOUR to give himself a chance of winning once more weeks after returning from a lengthy wrist injury which sidelined him for five months.
With a US$1.62 million winner’s prize and 500 FedExCup points at stake on Sunday, Pan, who is currently ranked 144th on the FedExCup standings, knows there is plenty to play for as he attempts to hold off the likes of McIlroy.
Pan rolled in seven birdies including two 18-footers on the first and 10th holes, before finishing in style with a 10-foot conversion on the 17th hole and getting up-and-down at the par-5 18th to give himself some breathing room at the top of the leaderboard. Pan’s lone blemish was on the 8th hole when he missed the green.
It has been a happy homecoming of sorts for Pan this week, who won twice on PGA TOUR Canada in his rookie professional year in 2015 which provided his career launch pad. He also represented the International Team in the 2019 Presidents Cup before landing an historic Olympic medal for Chinese Taipei.
Overnight leader Carl Yuan of China fell off the pace after a 74 to drop back to T16 on 209 as Korean trio S. H. Kim, Sung Kang and S.Y. Noh posted 72, 71 and 74 to sit T20, T33 and T42 respectively.
Four-time major champion McIlroy fired six birdies to give himself a fighting chance of defending the title and joining the record books. The Northern Irishman is bidding to become the only 10th different player to three-peat at an event since World War II.
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