By Al Campbell
TORONTO, June 10 (Xinhua) — Pan Cheng-tsung separated himself from the pack throughout third-round play of the RBC Canadian Open on Saturday because the Chinese Taipei veteran opened up a two-shot lead over a gaggle of six gamers at Oakdale Golf and Country Club.
On a day when China’s Yuan Yechun, the midway chief, stumbled to a two-over 74 to fall seven strokes again, Pan carded his second straight spherical of six-under 66 at Canada’s nationwide championship. Through 54 holes, he was 14-under 202.
Two-time defending champion Rory McIlroy (66) was equal second in a gaggle that included Englishmen Justin Rose (66) and Tommy Fleetwood (64) and Americans Mark Hubbard (66), Harry Higgs (67) and Andrew Novak (67).
Nick Taylor was three photographs again after the Canadian shot a course report nine-under 63 over the Oakdale composite course made up from the three nine-hole layouts on the Toronto-area membership.
Pan, the bronze medallist on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, put himself within the combine for his second PGA Tour win with a spherical that included seven birdies and a bogey 5 on the par-four eighth gap.
“It feels great. It’s always cool to see my name on the top of the leaderboard. Not just leaderboards, just to be in contention. That’s all I want to do before the tournament started. I finished birdie, birdie. That put me in a good spot. But I still got a lot of work to do.”
With rain forecast for Sunday’s remaining spherical, Pan mentioned course administration can be his high precedence.
“I won’t do too much to change. But you still have to play aggressive because this course it’s a lot of rough. But if you hit it in the fairways you will have a lot of short irons in and you’re going to create a lot of birdie opportunities. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone shoots eight-under, nine-under, because the PGA Tour guys are really good.”
McIlroy will undoubtedly be amongst these at their finest on Sunday. The world No. 3, who will likely be among the many favorites at subsequent week’s US Open in Los Angeles, posted a bogey-free spherical that includes six birdies, together with three straight from the par-three eleventh gap in his bid to “three-peat”.
“I got off to a great start. Three-under through that first nine holes I felt was a really good effort. Kept it going through the first part of the back nine. Then the putter went a little cold on me over those last five holes,” mentioned the Ulsterman, a four-time main winner.
“I’ve never won a tournament three times in a row. I felt like last year the win wasn’t just for me it was for a few other things. But this one, this year, if I were able to get over the line, will be solely for me.”
Taylor, who began the day seven strokes again of Yuan, briefly held the lead at 11-under on the power of a bogey-free effort that includes 9 birdies throughout his morning spherical.
“To have a course record is really cool. I don’t think I have one out here on tour. To do it at the RBC Canadian Open is even more special,” mentioned Taylor, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour. “I’ve got off to great starts the last couple days. The front nine obviously can be very tough. To be four-, five-under the last couple days gets you a lot of momentum going to the back nine where it’s very scorable.”