Hossler, Poulter share lead at Houston Open

Ian Poulter fired an early number to get back in contention and tie Beau Hossler entering the final round of the Houston Open.

Published : Apr 01, 2018 04:41 IST

Ian Poulter shot a seven-under-par 65 to grab a share of the 54-hole lead with Beau Hossler at the Houston Open.

After an eight-under-par 64 on Friday, Poulter remained hot with a bogey-free effort to move alongside Hossler at 14 under overall on Saturday.

Poulter held the round-three lead for hours before Hossler birdied his final hole for a 69 to join the Englishman atop the leaderboard.

The Houston Open offers one final opportunity for PGA Tour players to secure a last-minute ticket to the upcoming Masters – the winner advancing to Augusta.

"I'm not thinking about it [the Masters], not talking about it. I'm going to go out and have some fun tomorrow. There's a lot of ifs and buts," Poulter said.

"I'm in a funny position, right? I didn't have any expectations, I just went out to play golf. I'm going to do exactly the same tomorrow. There's a good group of players right now that are currently just behind that are going to be pressing, so I need to press as well. I need to be aggressive."

Emiliano Grillo (67), Paul Dunne (69), Kevin Tway (69) and Greg Chalmers (65) are all tied for third at 12 under.

Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar remain in contention at 11 under after matching three-under 69s.

Swede Stenson birdied three of his last six holes on the penultimate day.

Former world number one Jordan Spieth, still struggling with his putter, shot a one-under 71 to get to 10 under for the tournament.

Fellow American Rickie Fowler (73) is a stroke further back following a sloppy triple-bogey eight on the par-five 13th hole.

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