RIO GRANDE, March 8, 2014 (AFP) - New Zealand's Danny Lee fired three consecutive birdies on both the front and back nines Saturday to pull within a stroke of leader Chesson Hadley at the Puerto Rico Open.
But Lee, a South Korean-born Kiwi, charged into contention with a 66 to stand on 201, one stroke ahead of Americans Jonathan Byrd and Jason Gore with Sweden's Carl Pettersson and Americans David Toms and Jerry Kelly on 203.
"It was another good day," Lee said. "Everything is going really nicely."
Lee opened with a birdie, took a bogey at the third and then responded with birdies on the next three holes.
On the back nine, Lee birdied the 13th, took a bogey at the 14th and then again birdied the next three in a row before closing with a par.
Hadley made the most of a strong start, with back-to-back birdies at the par-5 second and par-4 third and again at the par-5 fifth and par-3 sixth.
Hadley finished with 11 pars and a birdie at the par-4 14th.
"It was frustrating," Hadley said. "I missed quite a few putts, a lot of putts the last 11 holes, but we're right where we need to be. I'm leading and that's great.
"Danny and I are great friends and we're going to have a blast," Hadley said. "Hopefully we can kind of dual it out."
American James Driscoll, who led after 36 holes when matching his course record with a 63 on Friday, soared to a 75 to share 20th on 207.
Leading scores Saturday after the third round of the $3.5 million US PGA Puerto Rico Open (par 72, USA unless stated):
200 - Chesson Hadley 68-65-67
201 - Danny Lee (NZL) 67-68-66
202 - Jason Gore 67-69-66, Jonathan Byrd 69-66-67
203 - Carl Pettersson (SWE) 71-66-66, Jerry Kelly 69-67-67, David Toms 72-64-67
204 - George McNeill 69-67-68, Rafael Cabrera Bello (ESP) 69-67-68
205 - Andrew Loupe 70-70-65, Richard Lee 69-68-68, Ricky Barnes 68-68-69, Ben Martin 68-67-70, Wes Roach 69-66-70
206 - Tim Petrovic 68-72-66, Brad Fritsch (CAN) 71-68-67, Ted Potter 71-70-65, Steven Bowditch (AUS) 69-70-67, Eric Axley 68-66-72
207 - Robert Streb 69-72-66, Jim Herman 69-70-68, Ryan Sullivan 69-70-68, Robert Karlsson (SWE) 71-67-69, David Hearn (CAN) 70-68-69, Greg Owen (ENG) 69-67-71, James Driscoll 69-63-75
208 - Ryuji Imada (JPN) 73-67-68, Michael Thompson 71-69-68, Chris Stroud 73-67-68, Andrew Svoboda 74-66-68, Ryo Ishikawa (JPN) 70-69-69, William McGirt 68-71-69, Bud Cauley 69-67-72