:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/QFLG75AICUYH6735BLFRRKLXU4.jpg)
Rory McIlroy fired a superb six-under 66 to make headway on the leaderboard as Tyrrell Hatton lost ground on day three of the CJ Cup PGA tournament in Las Vegas.
McIlroy was 12 shots off the pace after opening with rounds of 73-69, but fired a superb six-under 66 on Saturday to move to eight-under for the tournament.
Shane Lowry meanwhile posted his best round of the week on Saturday, the British Open champion is still well off the pace after his 70 however.
He went into Sunday seven shots behind Russell Henley, who on 15-under led by three strokes ahead of a quartet of fellow Americans including second-round leader Xander Schauffele.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/RSRSTYCAZD4EFHP64Z6YV3ZZNA.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/7PXGZ6QALQAJJ3K3YJOIDGU2EU.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/HKQJLB3AGYBENDXJ65ERCVBBIY.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/LFOLPFR2ADMDYPYMCAZZKMB5HE.jpg)
Hatton, by contrast, was three shots off the lead in second place on Friday night but followed rounds of 65-68 with a one-over 73.
The 29-year-old Hatton endured a consistent but frustrating day, with eight pars on the front nine against one bogey, before cancelling out a bogey five at the 14th with a birdie four on the last after hitting his second shot to within eight feet.
McIlroy powered home to rise within reach of the lead. He took birdies on the par-four third and sixth holes, dropped a shot on the long seventh, but then made six birdies against just one bogey in playing his back nine in five-under, including birdying his last three holes.
Henley was an unspectacular model of consistency in building his lead, with two front nine birdied and three more to kick off his back nine, in his bogey-free round.
England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, shot an even-par 72 to be seven-under.
Collated third round scores and totals in the The CJ Cup Shadow Creek, Shadow Creek GC (USA unless stated, par 72):
201 Russell Henley (USA) 66 68 67
204 Jason Kokrak (USA) 70 66 68, Talor Gooch (USA) 70 65 69, Xander Schauffele (USA) 66 64 74, Lanto Griffin (USA) 70 68 66
206 Jason Day (Aus) 70 70 66, Justin Thomas (USA) 72 66 68, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 65 68 73
207 Collin Morikawa (USA) 71 65 71
208 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 70 68 70, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 73 69 66, Bubba Watson (USA) 74 69 65, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 71 70 67
209 Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 72 68 69, Harry Higgs (USA) 72 67 70, Jon Rahm (Spa) 67 73 69, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 69 68 72
210 Brooks Koepka (USA) 74 68 68, Ryan Palmer (USA) 68 76 66, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 75 66 69, Tyler Duncan (USA) 67 71 72, Rickie Fowler (USA) 74 68 68, Kevin Streelman (USA) 68 70 72, Harris English (USA) 75 66 69
211 Daniel Berger (USA) 71 70 70, Cameron Smith (Aus) 69 74 68, Mark Hubbard (USA) 70 71 70
212 Richy Werenski (USA) 74 68 70, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 69 73 70, Ian Poulter (Eng) 69 70 73, Billy Horschel (USA) 70 70 72, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 69 74 69
213 Keegan Bradley (USA) 75 70 68, Robby Shelton (USA) 73 70 70, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 70 72, Adam Hadwin (Can) 75 69 69, Brian Harman (USA) 71 71 71
214 Justin Rose (Eng) 74 72 68, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 73 73 68, Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 71 70, Andrew Landry (USA) 71 69 74
215 Kevin Na (USA) 76 66 73, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 72 71 72, Kevin Kisner (USA) 77 71 67
216 Danny Lee (Nzl) 71 72 73, Joel Dahmen (USA) 68 75 73, Seonghyeon Kim (Kor) 77 70 69, Shane Lowry (Irl) 72 74 70, Hanbyeol Kim (Kor) 74 69 73, Tom Hoge (USA) 73 70 73
217 Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 73 75 69, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 73 74, Patrick Cantlay (USA) 71 72 74, Nick Taylor (Can) 71 74 72, Cameron Champ (USA) 74 69 74, Jordan Spieth (USA) 74 74 69
218 Matt Kuchar (USA) 76 68 74
219 JT Poston (USA) 78 70 71, Scottie Scheffler (USA) 71 77 71, Paul Casey (Eng) 75 77 67, Sungjae Im (Kor) 78 69 72, Jim Herman (USA) 78 69 72, Corey Conners (Can) 77 70 72
220 Brendon Todd (USA) 77 73 70, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 77 71 72, Joohyung Kim (Kor) 75 71 74, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 74 72 74, Jeongwoo Ham (Kor) 79 71 70
221 Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 78 73 70
222 Matthew Wolff (USA) 80 73 69, Adam Long (USA) 78 72 72
224 Jaekyeong Lee (Kor) 77 76 71
225 Brendan Steele (USA) 73 79 73
226 Michael Thompson (USA) 75 77 74, Sung Kang (Kor) 73 71 82, Gary Woodland (USA) 73 75 78
229 Alex Noren (Swe) 77 73 79
232 Tae Hee Lee (Kor) 75 75 82
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)