New Zealand’s Ryan Fox and Italy’s Matteo Manassero shot 6-under-par 64s on Saturday in the third round of the RBC Canadian Open to share the lead at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley’s North Course in Caledon, Ontario.
Fox and Manassero are at 14-under 196, holding a one-shot lead on the trio of Matt McCarty (64) Lee Hodges (63) and Chinese Taipei’s Kevin Yu (63) going into Sunday’s final round.
Andrew Putnam (68), Jack Knapp (66) and Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes (64) are two strokes back, while seven others are at 11 under. Putnam, who was in the day’s final pairing, rolled in a birdie putt on the last hole.
There was a six-way tie for first place at 13 under late in the afternoon.
Manassero, who has never won the PGA Tour, held the lead until his first bogey of the day when he used three putts on No. 17. He got the stroke back with a birdie on the closing hole.
Fox, whose lone PGA Tour victory was in last month’s Myrtle Beach Classic, was 5 under through nine holes, capping his round with a birdie. Hughes was in the playoff when Fox won at Myrtle Beach.
Second-round leader Cameron Champ shot 71 without a birdie, saving par from the rough on the 18th hole to stick with the group at 11 under. Champ is a longshot given that when the week began he was the eighth alternate to even gain a spot in the tournament field.
Other contenders at the halfway mark tumbled down the leaderboard. Canada’s Richard Lee (70) and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen (71) and were knocked from their top-three spots and now are tied for 25th and 29th, respectively.
Only 11 golfers had over-par scores Saturday.
The third round was played without Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who missed a cut for the first time since last July.
–Field Level Media
