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MEXICO CITY (AP) — Justin Thomas made a hole-in-one and surged into the lead with a 5-under 66 on a Saturday of high entertainment in the Mexico Championship.
Thomas hit a 6-iron from 239 yards that one-hopped into the cup on the par-3 13th. He added a pair of birdies that gave him a one-shot lead over Dustin Johnson, with Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy right behind at Chapultepec Golf Club.
Johnson, in his debut at No. 1 in the world, was tied for the lead when his second shot on the 16th got stuck in a tree. He walked back to the original spot and hit the next one to 15 feet, and the ball fell out of the tree as he was walking to the green. He made the putt to salvage a bogey and shot 66.
Mickelson didn't hit a fairway on the back nine until the 16th hole and at one point took as many drops as he had birdies. Even so, Lefty managed to make three straight birdies until closing with a bogey for a wild round of 68. He was two shots behind, along with McIlroy, who didn't make a birdie over his last seven holes and shot 70.
At nearly 7,800 feet of elevation, the final round figures to be up in the thin air. That might even include Jordan Spieth, who set the course record with an 8-under 63 and was among a dozen players within five shots of the lead.
It starts with Thomas, the 23-year-old who already has three victories in this PGA Tour wraparound season, two of them at the start of the year in Hawaii. He was hanging around the leaders when he made his hole-in-one on the 13th.
HSBC WOMEN'S CHAMPIONS
SINGAPORE (AP) — Michelle Wie shot a 5-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the HSBC Women's Champions, with some of the LPGA Tour's biggest stars right behind her.
The American had a 14-under 202 total on Sentosa's Tanjong Course. She's winless since the 2014 U.S. Women's Open.
Top-ranked Lydia Ko (67) was tied for second with second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn (69) and Park Sung-Hyun (68). Defending champion Ha Na Jang (68) and Olympic champion Inbee Park (71) were 11 under.
TSHWANE OPEN
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Sweden's Alexander Bjork and Scotland's Scott Jamieson each shot 3-under 68 to share the third-round lead in the Tshwane Open.
They were at 13-under-par 200 at Pretoria Country Club. Spain's Jorge Campillo and South Africa's Dean Burmester were a stroke back, each shooting 65.
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