Golf: Steve Stricker managed to cling onto his lead at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village after contrasting fortunes on Saturday. The American, who led at half-way when he began his third round on Saturday morning, finished terribly but remains three-under-par after a 69, three ahead of nearest rival Jonathan Byrd.
It could have been so much better though, as he led by six at one stage before his late collapse over the last five holes in Dublin, Ohio.
A great start saw him eagle the second from 113 yards, do the same on the par-five fifth and birdied the eighth but in the closing stages his putting deserted him and a misguided tee-shot saw him concede three of his six-shot advantage.
Stricker is 12-under overall on 204.
Pretty much everything went right for Byrd, meanwhile, as a closing birdie in the 18th saw him finish with a 69 to put him firmly in contention.
Matt Kuchar and Brandt Jobe are both four shots behind while Rory McIlroy, the first-round leader, had problems as he double bogeyed the par-three fourth, hit the pond on the 11th to bogey and needed an eagle on the 15th to finish on 71.
That put the Northern Irishman five off the lead and still in with a chance providing his fortunes improve on the final day.
McIlroy is joined by Mark Wilson and Shaun Micheel after 66 and 67 respectively.
Luke Donald's 73 left him at four under, eight shots off and tied for 17th while Phil Mickelson was a further two back after a bad few days.
Collated third round scores & totals
(USA unless stated, Irish in bold, par 72):
204
Steve Stricker 68 67 69
207
Jonathan Byrd 71 67 69
208
Brandt Jobe 71 68 69, Matt Kuchar 69 71 68
209 Rory McIlroy 66 72 71
, Shaun Micheel 69 73 67, Mark Wilson 70 73 66
210
Hunter Mahan 69 72 69, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 72 66 72, Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 71 66, Gary Woodland 72 69 69, Troy Matteson 73 69 68, Kevin Chappell 69 73 68
211
Dustin Johnson 68 73 70, Brett Wetterich 70 71 70, Scott Piercy 75 67 69
212
Ricky Barnes 68 70 74, Scott Stallings 68 76 68, John Senden (Aus) 71 70 71, Luke Donald 70 69 73, Charles Howell III 72 70 70, Webb Simpson 72 70 70
213
Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 72 71 70, Camilo Villegas (Col) 73 69 71
214
Brian Davis 73 71 70, Davis Love III 69 73 72, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 70 73 71, Ben Curtis 70 75 69, Kevin Streelman 74 68 72, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 68 75, Phil Mickelson 72 70 72, Kevin Stadler 71 68 75, J J Henry 70 75 69, Bo Van Pelt 72 70 72, Ryan Moore 69 70 75
215
D.A. Points 71 72 72, Zack Miller 72 73 70, Stewart Cink 68 73 74, Bubba Watson 75 69 71, Matt Bettencourt 68 72 75, Rickie Fowler 68 73 74, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 73 72 70
216
Kyle Stanley 72 73 71, Blake Adams 71 73 72, J.B. Holmes 72 72 72, Bill Haas 71 71 74, K J Choi (Kor) 70 73 73, Rocco Mediate 68 76 72, Drew Weaver 71 70 75, Josh Teater 67 72 77
217
Brendan Steele 70 71 76, Brendon De Jonge 71 73 73, Bryce Molder 68 73 76, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 72 69 76, Jason Bohn 70 71 76, Alex Cejka (Ger) 71 72 74, Chez Reavie 75 69 73
218
Charlie Wi (Kor) 73 72 73, Chris Riley 66 75 77, Charley Hoffman 69 74 75, Pat Perez 71 74 73, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 73 71 74, Robert Garrigus 69 75 74, Chris DiMarco 67 77 74, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 71 70 77
219
Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 73 75, Chris Couch 70 73 76
220
David Duval 72 73 75
221
Robert Karlsson (Swe) 74 71 76, Vijay Singh (Fij) 73 72 76
222
Johnson Wagner 71 74 77
223
Daniel Summerhays 72 71 80
224
Justin Leonard 73 72 79
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