New Zealand`s Danny Lee fired three consecutive birdies on both the front and back nines Saturday to pull within a stroke of leader Chesson Hadley at the Puerto Rico Open.
|Last Updated: Mar 09, 2014, 11:18 AM IST|Source: AFP
New Zealand`s Danny Lee fired three consecutive birdies on both the front and back nines Saturday to pull within a stroke of leader Chesson Hadley at the Puerto Rico Open.
Hadley shot a bogey-free 67, five-under par, that left the American on 16-under 200 for 54 holes at the $3.5 million (2.5m euros) US PGA Tour event.
But Lee, a South Korean-born Kiwi, charged into contention with a 66 to stand on 201, one stroke ahead of Americans Jonathan Byrd and Jason Gore with Sweden`s Carl Pettersson and Americans David Toms and Jerry Kelly on 203.
"It was another good day," Lee said. "Everything is going really nicely."
Lee opened with a birdie, took a bogey at the third and then responded with birdies on the next three holes.
On the back nine, Lee birdied the 13th, took a bogey at the 14th and then again birdied the next three in a row before closing with a par.
Hadley made the most of a strong start, with back-to-back birdies at the par-5 second and par-4 third and again at the par-5 fifth and par-3 sixth.
Hadley finished with 11 pars and a birdie at the par-4 14th.
"It was frustrating," Hadley said. "I missed quite a few putts, a lot of putts the last 11 holes, but we`re right where we need to be. I`m leading and that`s great.
"Danny and I are great friends and we`re going to have a blast," Hadley said. "Hopefully we can kind of dual it out."
American James Driscoll, who led after 36 holes when matching his course record with a 63 on Friday, soared to a 75 to share 20th on 207.
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