Pebble Beach (USA), February 15 Akshay Bhatia braved the wind to score six birdies in seven holes, which helped him achieve a 4-under 68 despite two bogeys on the back nine in the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am here.
Collin Morikawa, the two-time major champion aiming to end a two-year winless streak, had 11 birdies in his round of 62, which propelled him up 25 spots on the leaderboard to a three-way tie for second place with Jake Knapp (66) and Sepp Straka (67).
Another Indian-American, Sahith Theegala (72), was tied for 60th, while Indo-British Aaron Rai (72) was tied for 75th.
Indian-American Bhatia, a two-time PGA Tour winner, began the third round in a share of the lead with Ryo Hisatsune and threatened to take the lead. At the start of the day, when the wind was not strong, Bhatia capitalized on the opening seven holes. Only one of his six birdies came from outside 10 feet, and at one point, he led by as many as five shots.
He was bogey-free for the first 47 holes until his first bogey, which came when the strengthening wind sent his tee shot well over the green on the par-3 12th. He also made a bogey on the par-3 17th when the wind knocked his shot into the bunker and he missed a 4-foot putt.
Knapp started and finished with an eagle. He holed out from 130 yards on the par-4 first hole, and rode the wind for an approach to 12 feet for an eagle on the par-5 18th, resulting in a score of 66.
The defending champion, Rory McIlroy, was 10 shots behind. He had a triple bogey with a drive onto the beach at No. 4, and a double bogey with a drive out-of-bounds to the right on No. 18, in his third round of 72.
Scottie Scheffler's best chance was to extend his streak of top 10 finishes on the PGA TOUR to 18. He had a bogey-free 67, which allowed him to gain one shot on the lead – he was still eight shots behind.
