‘There's a lot of people in play' – Pádraig Harrington hopeful as he chases Senior PGA glory at Congressional
Pádraig Harrington hopes to regain his driving mojo as he heads into the final round of the Senior PGA Championship just two shots off the lead.
The Dubliner (53) followed a double bogey at the 17th with a birdie at the last to card a one-over 73 in Saturday's third round at Congressional Country Club.
It left him tied for seventh, but he's hopeful about his chances as he trails leaders Retief Goosen, Angel Cabrera, Jason Caron and Philip Archer by just two strokes on three-under.
"Obviously, it's tough enough conditions," Harrington said after a rollercoaster round featuring five birdies, four bogeys and that double-bogey at the 17th.
"I'm happy to be two shots back. I felt it could be worse. I made a few nice birdies at times out there.
"Wasn't great off the tee, wasn't great with my putting. It kind of left me on edge most of the day.
"I certainly could have finished a little stronger. But being only two shots back, there's a lot of people in play, but at least I'm within two of the lead.
"Hopefully tomorrow I drive it like I drove it the first day, which was great, and hole a few putts.
Goosen shot 68, Cabrera 70 and Caron and Archer a brace of 70s to lead by a shot on five-under from Lee Westwood and Stewart Cink as Darren Clarke's 76 left him joint 23rd on one-over.
Meanwhile, Portmarnock's Conor Purcell is chasing his first top 10 on the DP World Tour after a one-under 70 left him tied for 22nd heading into the final round of the Soudal Open in Belgium.
The Dubliner (27) is just two shots outside the top 10 on four-under, nine shots behind Scotland's Ewen Ferguson, who shot 69 to lead by two strokes from England's John Parry at Rinkven International in Antwerp.
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On the PGA Tour, world number one Scottie Scheffler is lurking just six shots behind Ben Griffin and Germany's Matti Schmid heading into the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas.
Chasing his third win in as many starts, the Texan was left to rue three back-nine bogeys as he made an eagle and seven birdies in a six-under 64 to move to tied seventh on seven-under.
"You are always going to hope to go play a perfect round; it basically never happens," said Scheffler, who was seven under after 11 holes before he bogeyed the 12th and 13th and followed birdies at the 16th and 17th with a bogey at the last.
"Three bogeys definitely hurts, especially when you are trying to chase, but overall, I did some good things today. I'm definitely going to need to do more of the same tomorrow."
Griffin and Schmidt shot 68s to lead by four shots from Rickie Fowler (67) on 13-under with Robert MacIntyre, Nick Hardy and Akshay Bhatia a shot further back.
On the HotelPlanner Tour's Danish Golf Challenge, Galway's Liam Nolan roared to nine-under for his round through 16 holes before two closing bogeys forced him to settle for a seven-under 65 at Bogense Golf Club.
The Bearna golfer goes into the final round tied for third on 12-under par, just five shots behind Scotland's Calum Fyfe.
The top 20 in the Road to Mallorca rankings earn promotion to the main tour and Nolan (25) lies 15th with the meat of the season to come.
Meanwhile, Elm Park's Anna Foster (23) continued her excellent rookie season when she tied for 17th behind Sára Kousková in the LET's Jabra Ladies Open.
The Dubliner closed with a two-under 69 at Evian Resort to finish eight shots behind the Czech star on two-under.
Annabel Wilson tied for 54th on seven-over after a closing 74.
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