Anirban Lahiri continued to struggle off the tee as he carded an even par 72 to lie tied 57th after the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament on Sunday.
Lahiri, who shot 71 and 72 in the first two rounds, did find a lot of greens and was unable to convert some of the chances that came his way. He totalled one-under 215 ahead of the final round.
The spotlight stayed on Tiger Woods, whose 70 saw him climb from the bubble at T-65 to T-39. Meanwhile, Alex Noren of Sweden two-putted for birdie on the final hole for a 3-under 69 that gave him a one-shot lead going into the final round.
Noren has nine European Tour victories and is No. 19 in the world. Noren was at 11-under 205. This is his first 54- hole lead on the PGA TOUR.
Jon Rahm, the defending champion, who needs to win to reach No. 1 in the world, took double bogey on the last hole for a 75 and fell four shots behind.
Woods only hit three fairways and still managed a 70 and was eight shots behind leader, Noren. Woods could still make a dash for a Top-10 of 15.
Woods hit just three of 14 fairways and nine greens in regulation, but he kept it together with his short game. On another warm day at Torrey Pines, Woods got up and down seven times in nine chances to salvage a 2-under 70 in the third round. He is now 3-under and eight shots behind leader Noren (69).
“Well, that’s just fighting, you know, fighting and grinding. I tried as hard as I possibly could out there. I didn’t have much, but I fought and put up a score and made some putts,” Woods said after missing a birdie putt of just over 10 feet at the par-5 ninth hole to end his four-birdie, two-bogey round.
While Woods went all over from the tee, his soft touch saw him take just 26 putts. Woods has hit just six of his last 28 fairways. Woods played with Brandt Snedeker (74, 1 over) and Sung Kang (75, 2 over).
Big crowds followed Woods all the way around. Woods has brought back excitement this week and golf can only be happy about it. Rounds of 70-66-69 sent the 35-year-old Noren to 11-under at Torrey Pines — for the 54-hole lead in just his second start as an official PGA TOUR member.
Noren played college golf in the USA at Oklahoma State, so he’s not completely foreign to American courses. But he hadn’t played Torrey Pines before this week.
Noren sits one clear of Ryan Palmer and a further 14 players sit within four shots of the lead including Justin Rose, Jason Day and Jon Rahm.
While Noren has played 35 TOUR events in the past, all but three of those were majors or World Golf Championship events and came when he wasn’t a member.
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