Trio take slender lead into final round of Safeway Open

Brian Stuard carded a 66 at the Safeway Open to share top place on a top-heavy scoreboard ahead of the final round in California, while Russell Knox remains in contention in the PGA Tour opener.

Stuard put together three birdies in the front nine and came back in 33, including a birdie on the 18th, to jump seven places on 16 under.

Joining him is countryman James Hahn who carded a 67 and Australian Cameron Percy, while overnight leader Sam Burns scored a par 72 to sit a shot off the lead with Norwegian rookie Kristoffer Ventura and Harry Higgs.

Scotland’s Knox is among a five-strong pack on 14 under after scoring 70 on Saturday, while Emiliano Grillo and Stewart Cink leapt 19 places into tied for seventh after rounds of 65.

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Meanwhile England’s Ben Taylor shot a 67 for the second consecutive day to head into the final round three shots back off the lead.

Collated third round scores and totals (USA unless stated, par 72):

200 Brian Stuard 67 67 66, James Hahn 68 65 67, Cameron Percy (Aus) 64 68 68

201 Kristoffer Ventura (Nor) 69 66 66, Harry Higgs 69 62 70, Sam Burns 64 65 72

202 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 69 68 65, Stewart Cink 67 70 65, Russell Knox (Sco) 63 69 70, Doug Ghim 67 66 69, D.J. Trahan 67 65 70

203 Pat Perez 65 69 69, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 69 67 67, Ben Taylor (Eng) 69 67 67, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 67 68 68, Kevin Streelman 72 66 65, Sahith Theegala 71 68 64

204 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 68 68 68, Sepp Straka (Aut) 70 66 68, Jason Dufner 70 67 67, David Hearn (Can) 69 69 66, Nelson Lauta Ledesma (Arg) 69 68 67, Tom Hoge 66 68 70, Chez Reavie 67 71 66, Brendan Steele 65 70 69, Ricky Barnes 69 66 69, J.J. Spaun 70 68 66, Akshay Bhatia 66 72 66

205 Bud Cauley 68 68 69, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 67 70 68, Vincent Whaley 69 70 66, Michael Gligic (Can) 70 68 67

206 Scott Harrington 66 70 70, Chesson Hadley 70 67 69, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 74 65 67

207 Andrew Putnam 70 68 69, Rob Oppenheim 68 66 73, Kyle Stanley 70 69 68, Beau Hossler 73 65 69, Branden Grace (Rsa) 68 71 68, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 70 68 69, Bol Hoag 64 72 71

208 Phil Mickelson 71 67 70, Doc Redman 70 69 69, J.B. Holmes 70 68 70, Andy Zhang (Chn) 66 72 70, Isaiah Salinda 71 68 69, Mark Anderson 68 69 71

209 Luke List 70 69 70, Charley Hoffman 67 71 71, Harold Varner III 67 71 71, Cameron Davis (Aus) 71 68 70, Jamie Lovemark 69 69 71, Jim Furyk 72 66 71, Patrick Rodgers 67 72 70, Jonathan Byrd 69 69 71, Will Gordon 72 67 70

210 Adam Schenk 68 71 71, Hudson Swafford 70 68 72, Lucas Glover 69 67 74, Austin Cook 68 71 71, MJ Daffue (Rsa) 71 65 74, Joel Dahmen 71 68 71, Ryan Blaum 71 67 72, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 69 70 71

211 Nick Watney 72 65 74

212 Brice Garnett 69 70 73, Kevin Chappell 69 70 73, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 70 65 77

213 Brandon Hagy 69 70 74

214 Joohyung Kim (Kor) 67 72 75

215 Rhein Gibson (Aus) 73 66 76, William McGirt 69 69 77