CT Pan leads Rory McIlroy and others by two at RBC Canadian Open
CT Pan
Leader CT Pan is hunting Sunday silverware as the RBC Canadian Open heads into the final round.
CT Pan leads a congested leaderboard at the RBC Canadian Open after a sizzling third round on Saturday.
The Taiwanese star carded a six under 66 around Oakdale Country Club, enough to take him to 14 under for the tournament, two strokes ahead of a potent chasing pack. Pan birdied the final two holes to move into the lead on top of a congested leaderboard.
"It's always cool to see my name on the top of the leaderboard," quipped Pan, as per
pgatour.com.
"Not just leaderboards, just to be in contention. That's all I want to do before the tournament started. Finished birdie-birdie. That put me in a good spot. But I still got a lot of work to do."
Lurking in tied second is four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, whose third round 66 left him two behind leader CT Pan and in a group of six players tied on 12 under, which includes English duo Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose.
They are joined by Americans Mark Hubbard, Harry Higgs and Andrew Novak while England's Aaron Rai is a stroke further back after a 69 left him alongside Canada's Nick Taylor, who broke the Oakdale Golf & Country Club course record with a 63.
Victory on Sunday would make McIlroy the first player to win three consecutive Canadian Opens - over the space of five years due to Covid cancellations - and the first on the PGA Tour since Steve Stricker in 2009-11.
McIlroy - who is chasing a hat-trick of wins at the Canadian Open - fired six birdies in a blemish-free round and admitted conditions were set up for low scoring after the previous day's rain.
"It was prime for scoring," said the Northern Irishman, who will compete for a second US Open title in Los Angeles next week.
"It's really that back nine you need to take advantage of. But it was nice to sort of have what I felt was a cushion after playing the front nine so well.
"I've never won a tournament three times in a row. I felt like last year the win wasn't just for me, it was for a few other things. But this one, this year, if I were able to get over the line, will be solely for me."
