Out of the final pairing, non-member, sponsor invite and World No. 460 Haotong Li swallowed a late double en route to a 2-under-par 33-35=68 in R3 of the Sony Open, dipping one spot to T3 on 14-under 196, four shy of leader Russell Henley (67).
Playing with overnight leader and past champ Henley, the 26-year-old climbed within one of him after birdies at 5, 9 and 10, but played his final eight in 1-over, outbalancing two circles at 14 and 18 with a bogey-5 at 13 (3-putt from 49'2") and a double bogey-6 at 16 (errant tee ball). On eight (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, he lost strokes off-the-tee (-0.143) and on-the-green (-0.698), but gained 1.041 on approach. The Shanghai native, T1 in total birdies with 19, will play out of the third-to-last pairing in R4 with past champ Matt Kuchar. His career best on TOUR in 40 prior events is solo 3rd at the 2017 Open (Royal Birkdale) in his Open debut, where he closed with 7-under 63, and this is just his second time in the top 10 after 54 holes in a TOUR event, joining the 2015-16 WGC-HSBC in China, where he was T3 before fading to T7 (66-69-66-72). If Li were to hang on for a top-10 finish tomorrow, it would gain him an exemption into next week’s American Express (if he chooses to accept it). See link below to post-round comments.