RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico, Feb 23: Anirban Lahiri rode a roller-coaster that tested him all the way. With seven birdies, six pars and five bogeys, he shot a third straight 70 in the third round at the Puerto Rico Open.
Playing once again in windy conditions, Lahiri is now six-under 210 and Tied-38th, while compatriot Arjun Atwal (72) was Tied-54 and Daniel Chopra (73) was T-64.
PGA TOUR rookie Viktor Hovland, who jokingly called his win at the innovative shoot out Hero Challenge last month in Abu Dhabi as his ‘first pro’ win last month, shot 8-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead into the final round. Hovland is looking for his maiden win on the PGA Tour.
Lahiri starting the day at four-under, opened with a bogey but got back the shot on second. A birdie on fifth was followed by back-to-back bogeys on sixth and seventh and birdies on eighth and ninth. That meant only two pars on the front nine.
On the back nine, he birdied 10thand 12thto get to get to three-under, only to give away a shot on 13th. He made up with a birdie on 14thand then had three more pars – the longest stretch of pars for him during the day – but bogeyed the 18th, where he had a long birdie on first day. It meant a 70 and a total of 210.
Atwal had one birdie, an eagle on par-5 fifth and three bogeys for an even 72.
Hovland, the 22-year-old Norwegian who won the 2018 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach and then won low amateur honours at the Masters and U.S. Open, birdied all four par-5 holes at Coco Beach. His back nine 31 gave him a 64 and a total of 18-under 198 total.
Martin Laird was second after a 63. His round included eagles on the par-5 second and par-4 10th, where he holed out a wedge.
Josh Teater was two strokes back at 16 under after a 66. Emiliano Grillo had a 69 to get to 13 under. Patrick Rodgers (66) and Sam Ryder (69) were 12 under.
Hovland is looking for first PGA Tour win at age 22 and the last five 22-year-old TOUR winners are Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Hideki Matsuyama Three of the last nine winners of the Puerto Rico Open have been rookies.
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