Tony Finau three clear in Shanghai after third round

American Tony Finau retained his overnight cushion to take a three-shot lead into Sunday’s final round of the WGC-HSBC Champions at the Sheshan International GC in Shanghai, China.

Finals finished his round with three consecutive to score a two under 70 for a 13-under-par 203 total.

Three shots behind him are – Englishman and defending champion Justin Rose (70), American’s Patrick Reed (70) and Xander Schauffele (69), all on 10 under.

Leader Finau began his third round by scoring a birdie on the second but bogeyed the third and again on the fifth.

Then on the back nine, Finau dropped another shot at the 12th but bounced back with four birdies on the 13th, 16th, 17th and 18th for his round of 70.

In an interview after his ‘struggling third round’, Finau said: “There was no need to panic. Just play some good golf coming down the stretch, and I was able to do that.

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” Finau said to reporters afterwards. “I’ve got a world-class field chasing after me. This is the position you want to be in and I’ll be looking to close out my first tournament in this position, which is exciting for me.

“I’m going to have fun no matter the outcome and hopefully make a lot of birdies and have those guys have to do something special tomorrow to beat me.”

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (73) sits a further two strokes back, tied-fifth, alongside American Andrew Putnam (67) at eight under.

Next at seven under is – American Keegan Bradley and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who both scored a two under 70.

Leading scores after Round 3:

1 USA Tony Finau -13 66 67 70 – 203

T2 ENG Justin Rose -10 69 67 70 – 206
T2 USA Patrick Reed -10 64 72 70 – 206
T2 USA Xander Schauffele -10 66 71 69 – 206

T5 USA Andrew Putnam -8 70 71 67 – 208
T5 ENG Tommy Fleetwood -8 68 68 72 – 208

T7 USA Keegan Bradley -7 69 70 70 – 209
T7 THA Kiradech Aphibarnrat -7 68 71 70 – 209

9 AUS Jason Day -6 71 70 69 – 210

T10 USA Billy Horschel -5 68 72 71 – 211
T10 USA Patrick Cantlay -5 70 68 73 – 211
T10 DEN Thorbjorn Olesen -5 75 69 67 – 211

13 ITA Andrea Pavan -4 72 71 69 – 212

T14 ARG Emiliano Grillo -3 70 69 74 – 213
T14 BEL Thomas Pieters -3 75 64 74 – 213

T16 AUS Adam Scott -2 69 73 72 – 214
T16 SWE Alexander Noren -2 74 69 71 – 214
T16 TPE Cheng Tsung Pan -2 68 76 70 – 214
T16 CHN Haotong Li -2 73 72 69 – 214
T16 ENG Ian Poulter -2 69 71 74 – 214
T16 ESP Rafael Cabrera Bello -2 68 73 73 – 214

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