CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges 2018 - Round 3

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Brooks Koepka has improved his chances of taking over as No. 1 golfer in the world.
Posted on
October 20, 2018
by
The Editorial Team in ,
Estimated reading time: 41 minutes

PGA Tour

CJ Cup @ Nine Bridges 2018

October 21-24

Nine Bridges Golf Club, Jeju Island, South Korea

$9,500,000

October 21-24

Nine Bridges Golf Club, Jeju Island, South Korea

$9,500,000

Round 3

Brooks Koepka takes 4-stroke lead

Round 1

Round 2

Round 4

Round 1

Round 2

Round 4

October 20, 2018

Brooks Koepka has improved his chances of taking over as No. 1 golfer in the world, shooting a bogey-free 5-under 67 Saturday for a four-stroke lead after three rounds of the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges.

Koepka had a three-round total of 13-under 203. Ian Poulter, who shot 68 Saturday, was tied for second place with second-round leader Scott Piercy, who had a 72.

The 28-year-old Koepka, who trailed by one stroke after two rounds, will move to the top of the world rankings if he wins the tournament and former No. 1 Justin Thomas, the defending champion here, does not finish any better than second.

Thomas shot a 71 Saturday and is at 1 under, 12 strokes behind Koepka and tied for 43rd. It would be Koepka's first appearance at No. 1.

Dustin Johnson is currently No. 1, Koepka is third and Thomas fourth. Johnson and No. 2 Justin Rose are not playing this week.

There were six golfers tied for fourth in South Korea, including Rafa Cabrera Bello, who shot 65 Saturday, and first-round leader Chez Reavie (70).

Shubhankar Sharma of India had the round of the day, a 64, to move to 3 under, 10 strokes behind Koepka.

Koepka, the three-time major champion who was recently voted the Player of the Year on the PGA Tour, started with eight straight pars.

His round included back-to-back birdies on the ninth and 10th holes, and then a key par save from a difficult lie in the greenside bunker on the 11th - the only hole where he looked in any kind of trouble.

''It was good on the 11th, just to make sure I didn't have any bogeys, that was kind of the big thing,'' Koepka said. ''I unfortunately three-putted the next (par-5 12th). Just got to work on my wedge game, which wasn't very good today.''

Looking ahead to the final round, he added: ''My confidence has always been pretty high. Anytime you can win three majors you're going to be feeling pretty good about yourself. To do what I've done over the last two years has been special, but I'm looking to build on that.''

After a round of five birdies and a bogey, Poulter also knew what he needed to do on Sunday.

''Tomorrow, I think it's not as windy as Thursday, so with that in mind, I think the scoring's going to be pretty good,'' said Poulter, who has improved to No. 35 in the rankings after coming close to losing his card on the PGA Tour in 2016.

''Tomorrow, I'm going to need to make a few birdies. Obviously, Brooks is in cruise control right now and obviously I am going to need a shoot a low one.''

Piercy, looking for his first individual win on the PGA Tour since the Barbasol Championship in July 2015, started with a birdie, but needed to make birdies on his last two holes to ensure he finished on even-par.

''I'm a little frustrated. I felt I rolled the ball really well today and I kept hitting lip after lip. A couple mistakes like hitting it in the cross bunker on the sixth.just a little sloppy and the ball-striking wasn't quite there,'' said Piercy. ''Just made stupid little mental errors today and it's hard to come back from it.''

The $9.5 million tournament is the second in the PGA Tour's three-week Asian swing culminating in the WGC-HSBC Champions next week in Shanghai.

Pos.
Player
Nat
To Par
R1
R2
R3
Total
1
Brooks Koepka
USA
-13
71
65
67
203
T2
Ian Poulter
ENG
-9
70
69
68
207
T2
Scott Piercy
USA
-9
70
65
72
207
T4
Cameron Smith
AUS
-8
74
67
67
208
T4
Chez Reavie
USA
-8
68
70
70
208
T4
Gary Woodland
USA
-8
73
67
68
208
T4
Jamie Lovemark
USA
-8
72
68
68
208
T4
Pat Perez
USA
-8
72
68
68
208
T4
Rafael Cabrera Bello
ESP
-8
73
70
65
208
T10
Jason Day
AUS
-7
73
71
65
209
T10
Ryan Armour
USA
-7
73
67
69
209
T10
Ted Potter Jr.
USA
-7
77
67
65
209
T13
Brendan Steele
USA
-6
74
71
65
210
T13
J. J. Spaun
USA
-6
71
70
69
210
T13
Paul Casey
ENG
-6
71
73
66
210
T13
Si-Woo Kim
KOR
-6
69
73
68
210
T17
Hideki Matsuyama
JPN
-5
71
74
66
211
T17
J. B. Holmes
USA
-5
73
70
68
211
T17
Keith Mitchell
USA
-5
75
69
67
211
T17
Ryan Palmer
USA
-5
72
70
69
211
T21
Alexander Noren
SWE
-4
74
65
73
212
T21
Austin Cook
USA
-4
70
75
67
212
T21
Graeme McDowell
NIR
-4
71
72
69
212
T21
Kevin Na
USA
-4
73
69
70
212
T21
Sung-Hoon Kang
KOR
-4
75
67
70
212
T26
Andrew Putnam
USA
-3
73
68
72
213
T26
Brice Garnett
USA
-3
73
69
71
213
T26
Louis Oosthuizen
RSA
-3
72
71
70
213
T26
Shubhankar Sharma
IND
-3
74
75
64
213
T26
Tyrrell Hatton
ENG
-3
72
73
68
213
T31
Abraham Ancer
USA
-2
75
71
68
214
T31
Adam Hadwin
CAN
-2
71
71
72
214
T31
Beau Hossler
USA
-2
75
70
69
214
T31
Charley Hoffman
USA
-2
76
71
67
214
T31
Dong-Seop Maeng
KOR
-2
71
73
70
214
T31
Emiliano Grillo
ARG
-2
73
75
66
214
T31
Ernie Els
RSA
-2
73
71
70
214
T31
Joaquin Niemann
CHI
-2
75
70
69
214
T31
Joel Dahmen
USA
-2
72
70
72
214
T31
Kevin Tway
USA
-2
73
72
69
214
T31
Marc Leishman
AUS
-2
75
71
68
214
T31
Patton Kizzire
USA
-2
71
72
71
214
T43
Adam Scott
AUS
-1
75
69
71
215
T43
Brian Harman
USA
-1
76
64
75
215
T43
Cheng Tsung Pan
TPE
-1
76
69
70
215
T43
Jason Dufner
USA
-1
72
72
71
215
T43
Justin Thomas
USA
-1
73
70
72
215
T43
Kyle Stanley
USA
-1
72
72
71
215
T43
Nick Watney
USA
-1
70
74
71
215
T43
Sung-Jae Im
KOR
-1
73
71
71
215
T51
Brandt Snedeker
USA
Par
72
72
72
216
T51
Danny Willett
ENG
Par
69
77
70
216
T51
Peter Uihlein
USA
Par
73
71
72
216
T51
Rod Pampling
AUS
Par
70
73
73
216
T55
Branden Grace
RSA
1
75
73
69
217
T55
Brian Gay
USA
1
74
70
73
217
T55
Byeong-Hun An
KOR
1
70
77
70
217
T55
Charl Schwartzel
RSA
1
76
70
71
217
T55
James Hahn
USA
1
76
69
72
217
T55
Jimmy Walker
USA
1
72
69
76
217
T55
Kevin Chappell
USA
1
76
71
70
217
T55
Ryan Moore
USA
1
72
73
72
217
T55
Taehee Lee
KOR
1
72
71
74
217
T64
Brian Stuard
USA
2
77
68
73
218
T64
Kyoung-Hoon Lee
KOR
2
78
73
67
218
T66
Billy Horschel
USA
3
74
74
71
219
T66
Charles Howell III
USA
3
72
76
71
219
T66
Sang-Hyun Park
KOR
3
75
73
71
219
T66
Stewart Cink
USA
3
77
69
73
219
T70
Chesson Hadley
USA
4
75
73
72
220
T70
Doyeob Mun
KOR
4
72
80
68
220
T70
Meen-Whee Kim
KOR
4
76
75
69
220
T70
Xander Schauffele
USA
4
76
73
71
220
74
Hyung-Joon Lee
KOR
5
74
72
75
221
75
Jason Kokrak
USA
6
77
73
72
222
76
Michael Kim
KOR
9
70
75
80
225
77
Min-Chel Choi
KOR
11
82
72
73
227
78
Hyun-Woo Ryu
KOR
12
77
76
75
228
Pos.
Player
Nat
To Par
R3
Total
1
Brooks Koepka
USA
-13
67
203
T2
Ian Poulter
ENG
-9
68
207
T2
Scott Piercy
USA
-9
72
207
T4
Cameron Smith
AUS
-8
67
208
T4
Chez Reavie
USA
-8
70
208
T4
Gary Woodland
USA
-8
68
208
T4
Jamie Lovemark
USA
-8
68
208
T4
Pat Perez
USA
-8
68
208
T4
Rafael Cabrera Bello
ESP
-8
65
208
T10
Jason Day
AUS
-7
65
209
T10
Ryan Armour
USA
-7
69
209
T10
Ted Potter Jr.
USA
-7
65
209
T13
Brendan Steele
USA
-6
65
210
T13
J. J. Spaun
USA
-6
69
210
T13
Paul Casey
ENG
-6
66
210
T13
Si-Woo Kim
KOR
-6
68
210
T17
Hideki Matsuyama
JPN
-5
66
211
T17
J. B. Holmes
USA
-5
68
211
T17
Keith Mitchell
USA
-5
67
211
T17
Ryan Palmer
USA
-5
69
211
T21
Alexander Noren
SWE
-4
73
212
T21
Austin Cook
USA
-4
67
212
T21
Graeme McDowell
NIR
-4
69
212
T21
Kevin Na
USA
-4
70
212
T21
Sung-Hoon Kang
KOR
-4
70
212
T26
Andrew Putnam
USA
-3
72
213
T26
Brice Garnett
USA
-3
71
213
T26
Louis Oosthuizen
RSA
-3
70
213
T26
Shubhankar Sharma
IND
-3
64
213
T26
Tyrrell Hatton
ENG
-3
68
213
T31
Abraham Ancer
USA
-2
68
214
T31
Adam Hadwin
CAN
-2
72
214
T31
Beau Hossler
USA
-2
69
214
T31
Charley Hoffman
USA
-2
67
214
T31
Dong-Seop Maeng
KOR
-2
70
214
T31
Emiliano Grillo
ARG
-2
66
214
T31
Ernie Els
RSA
-2
70
214
T31
Joaquin Niemann
CHI
-2
69
214
T31
Joel Dahmen
USA
-2
72
214
T31
Kevin Tway
USA
-2
69
214
T31
Marc Leishman
AUS
-2
68
214
T31
Patton Kizzire
USA
-2
71
214
T43
Adam Scott
AUS
-1
71
215
T43
Brian Harman
USA
-1
75
215
T43
Cheng Tsung Pan
TPE
-1
70
215
T43
Jason Dufner
USA
-1
71
215
T43
Justin Thomas
USA
-1
72
215
T43
Kyle Stanley
USA
-1
71
215
T43
Nick Watney
USA
-1
71
215
T43
Sung-Jae Im
KOR
-1
71
215
T51
Brandt Snedeker
USA
Par
72
216
T51
Danny Willett
ENG
Par
70
216
T51
Peter Uihlein
USA
Par
72
216
T51
Rod Pampling
AUS
Par
73
216
T55
Branden Grace
RSA
1
69
217
T55
Brian Gay
USA
1
73
217
T55
Byeong-Hun An
KOR
1
70
217
T55
Charl Schwartzel
RSA
1
71
217
T55
James Hahn
USA
1
72
217
T55
Jimmy Walker
USA
1
76
217
T55
Kevin Chappell
USA
1
70
217
T55
Ryan Moore
USA
1
72
217
T55
Taehee Lee
KOR
1
74
217
T64
Brian Stuard
USA
2
73
218
T64
Kyoung-Hoon Lee
KOR
2
67
218
T66
Billy Horschel
USA
3
71
219
T66
Charles Howell III
USA
3
71
219
T66
Sang-Hyun Park
KOR
3
71
219
T66
Stewart Cink
USA
3
73
219
T70
Chesson Hadley
USA
4
72
220
T70
Doyeob Mun
KOR
4
68
220
T70
Meen-Whee Kim
KOR
4
69
220
T70
Xander Schauffele
USA
4
71
220
74
Hyung-Joon Lee
KOR
5
75
221
75
Jason Kokrak
USA
6
72
222
76
Michael Kim
KOR
9
80
225
77
Min-Chel Choi
KOR
11
73
227
78
Hyun-Woo Ryu
KOR
12
75
228

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