American Harold Varner III birdied the par-five 18th to finish one-stroke ahead of Adri Arnaus from Spain after the third round of the PIF Saudi International.
The two players had started the round tied for the lead and went head-to-head for much of the day before the American returned a 68 to finish on 12 under while Arnaus carded a 69 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.
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England’s Tommy Fleetwood, chasing his first win in three years, fired a 67 and is a shot further back in sole possession of third place, in the star-studded opening event of the season on the Asian Tour.
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The $5 million event features the strongest field in this history of the Tour and one of its most lucrative purses.
Australian Cameron Smith came in with a 70 and is fourth on eight under, while defending champion Dustin Johnson from the United States (67) is seven under along with Australian Wade Ormsby (68) and Ryosuke Kinoshita from Japan (69).
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Varner is on the threshold of the biggest win of his 10-year career.
“Just hanging in there,” said Varner.
“Really good pins today on 11, 12. So I just did a good job of just slowing down and just doing my job. I love competing. I mean, it’s the greatest thing in life is competing and just working at it.”
The American claimed the Australian PGA Championship in 2016 before joining the PGA Tour.
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Arnaus lost the Acciona Open de España in a sudden-death play-off last year on the DP World Tour and will go all out to secure his first big win in the pro game on Sunday.
Said Arnaus: “I just think that day by day we get the hang of how the course is playing, the same wind as yesterday, as far as velocity and direction. So, we’re already knowing what to do here and there. It’s just sticking to the game plan and really give yourself the best look as you can and be in the right position.
“You know, when it comes to the putts, it’s not that easy to get the line right, as you can imagine.”
Fleetwood’s last victory came in the 2019 Nedbank Golf Challenge so victory tomorrow will be important for one of the game’s finest players.
“Yeah, very happy to be done and in. I got off to a bad start. I actually hit a perfect drive on one and was in like this massive rough and made a bogey from nowhere. On days when you know it’s going to be really hard, you don’t really want to be giving too many shots away, especially the start,” said Fleetwood.
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“But after that, played really, really well. Scored well. Made more birdies than I thought I would do today probably. Just hit a lot of really good iron shots and gave myself chances.
“It was hard all day. It was like yards to play and scrapping. Yeah, very happy to be done for the day.”
Top Round 3 scores
198 – Harold Varner III (USA) 64-66-68.
199 – Adri Arnaus (ESP) 64-66-69.
200 – Tommy Fleetwood (ENG) 66-67-67.
202 – Cameron Smith (AUS) 66-66-70.
203 – Dustin Johnson (USA) 65-71-67, Wade Ormsby (AUS) 68-67-68, Ryosuke Kinoshita (JPN) 64-70-69
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