Australian golfer Greg Chalmers is one good round from recording his long-awaited maiden US PGA Tour win after charging into contention at the Tampa Bay Championship in Florida.
Chalmers fired a two-under-par third round to be one shot off the third-round lead shared by Americans Justin Leonard and Kevin Streelman and South Africa’s George Coetzee, who are all at six-under.
Chalmers, a 40-year-old veteran of 315 PGA Tour events for two runner-up finishes and 20 top-10s, is locked with Americans Jim Furyk, Ben Kohles and Tag Ridings in the $US5.5 million ($A5.32 million) tournament.
The day wasn’t so good for Chalmer’s compatriot Adam Scott, who started the day one stroke off the lead but slumped to a tie for 21st at one-under for the tournament after a five-over-par round.
Leonard, the 1997 British Open winner, shot a four-under 67 on Saturday.
“I was pretty focused on controlling what I could, which wasn’t much. It was pretty tough out there,” said the 40-year-old Leonard.
“I hit a lot of great drives, made a few greens and hit a few putts and suddenly I’m leading the golf tournament.”
England’s Luke Donald and Americans Bryce Molder, Jordan Spieth, Brian Harman and overnight leader Shawn Stefani are at four-under.
Leonard, seeking his 13th tour title overall and his first since the 2008 St Jude Classic, hit all 13 fairways off the tee and credited that accuracy with his jump to the top.
“That’s a big thing on this golf course,” Leonard said.
“There’s not a whole lot of rough but if you are in the rough, you are near some trees and have to manufacture something.
“Being in the fairways all day allowed me to be more aggressive with my shots.”
Leonard birdied the par-four second, then closed the front nine with back-to-back birdies.
He added short birdie putts at the par-4 11th and par-4 12th holes before taking his lone bogey of the day at the par-3 15th.
Streelman is in his 153rd US PGA event with his career-best finishes being shares of third in 2011 at Puerto Rico and Mexico.
He began the round sharing 31st place, seven strokes off the pace, but fired a 65 rocket up the leaderboard.
The 34-year-old opened with a birdie, added another at the sixth and then began the back nine with three birdies in four holes, including the par-four 10th, par-five 11th and par-three 13th.
He added a birdie at the par-three 17th and closed with a par.
Coetzee, 26, is playing his first US PGA event that is not a major tournament or World Golf Championships event.
The Pretoria native began with a birdie, added another at the seventh and birdied the par-five 11th as well.
He answered his lone bogey, at the par-four 16th, with a birdie at 17 to stay in a share of the lead.