Surprisingly, Paul Casey has only one victory on the PGA Tour, but he looked like a winner in the third round of the Deutsche Bank Championship.
The 39-year-old Englishman eagled the final hole to post a third straight 5-under-par 66 and take a three-stroke lead over Brian Harman into the final round of the second event in the FedEx Cup playoffs at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass.
“To be sitting here at 66, I’m obviously over the moon,” said Casey, whose victory in the 2009 Shell Houston Open is one of his 16 victories around the world. “Even with the great ball-striking, I found it difficult at the beginning, but to turn it around and have a lot of looks for birdies and make a few to come in, it’s been great.
“A lot of guys were tearing it up. Shows how good guys are out there.”
Casey hit his second shot from 232 yards to within three feet on the final hole and made the eagle putt to finish 54 holes at 15-under 198.
The left-handed Harman, whose only PGA Tour victory came in the 2014 John Deere Classic, birdied two of the last four holes for a 68, while PGA champion Jimmy Walker shot 70 and was four shots back in a tie for third with Smylie Kaufman, who totaled 68, and 36-hole leader Kevin Chappell of Fresno and UCLA, who finished at 71.
Ryan Moore was another stroke back in solo sixth after a 68, while world No. 5 Rory McIlroy carded a 65 and was six shots down in a tie for seventh with Olympic champion Justin Rose of England, who had a 69, Tony Finau, who wound up at 68, and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, whose 64 was the low score of the day.
Third-ranked Jordan Spieth (72) and sixth-ranked Adam Scott (70) of Australia were in a tie for 23rd, while top-ranked Jason Day (68) of Australia and defending champion and eighth-ranked Rickie Fowler (69) were tied for 33rd.
Final round tee times were moved up to Monday morning because rain and winds of 35 mph are expected in the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine.
