Nicolas Echavarria shot 5-under 65 on Saturday and finished with a tap-in eagle on the 18th for a two-shot lead over Justin Thomas after the third round of the Zozo Championship. (More Sports News)
Echavarria is aiming for his second victory on the PGA Tour after winning last year in Puerto Rico. Thomas has won 15 times on the PGA Tour, but is without a victory in 2 1/2 years since winning the 2022 PGA Championship.
Max Greyserman, looking for his first PGA Tour win, carded a 64 and is three back. Three more are six behind and still in the mix: Kevin Yu (66), Rickie Fowler (67) and Nate Lashley (63).
바카라I mean, that's the way you want to finish a round,바카라 said Echavarria, who hit a 5-wood to 2 feet for the tap-in on the 550-yard hole. 바카라I had a good tee shot, hit a really good second shot and finished with an eagle. I prefer that than a birdie obviously.바카라
The 30-year-old Echavarria, a Colombian who played at the University of Arkansas, saved par on the 12th with a difficult downhill chip from thick rough on his third shot, and then dropped a clutch putt.
It might have saved his round.
"I started getting shaky on the back nine with a bogey on 9 and an incredible save on 12," he said. 바카라But we finished the round as well as we could.바카라
Echavarria is 17-under 193 at the par-70 Narashino Country Club, located about 50 miles outside central Tokyo.
Thomas won his first major in 2017 바카라 again the PGA Championship 바카라 and rose to No. 1 in the world golf rankings in 2018. Now he's trying to recapture the feeling.
바카라It's obviously tough,바카라 he said. 바카라It's hard to win at any stage, doesn't matter who you are.바카라
He said early success might have made it look easier than it is.
바카라To yourself and everybody else,바카라 he added.
바카라At the end of the day it has been a while, but I've still won a pretty good amount of golf tournaments. I know how to win. It's just a matter of executing and doing it and that's really been the biggest difference. There's a reason there's only one every week.바카라
Fowler, who tied for the runner-up two years ago and has connections to Japan, suggested he was close to making a run.
바카라There's been a lot of good signs, but over the past few events I just haven't really put it all together," he said. "So I'm looking forward to getting out there and hopefully we can get a good one going.바카라
The pre-tournament favorites are far out of contention.
Defending champion Collin Morikawa shot 70 and was 13 shots behind, as is Xander Schauffele after a 68.
Japanese favorite Hideki Matsuyama shot 66 바카라 his best round of the tournament 바카라 but is 15 shots off the lead.
