It could have been no contest after 54 holes at the Farmers.
It’s not, thanks to the good play and some bad play by leader Justin Rose.
Rose looked virtually unbeatable on 15 of the 18 holes at the South Course at Torrey Pines on Saturday but it was the other three holes that kept this one from being a runaway.
Yes, the world’s No. 1 is the leader after three rounds thanks to a 69 that put him a whopping 18-under par. Could easily have been north of 20 under.
Rose looked to be totally under control expect for a pair of double-bogeys — the first at the par four fourth, the second on the back nine at the 14th. Rose then gave hope to Adam Scott and Jon Rahm when he plunked his second into the water short of the par five 18th to finish with bogey.
That meant Scott only trailed by three going into Sunday’s finale after the Aussie shot the low round of the week on the South Course — a seven-under par 65.
“If you ball strike it, you can shoot a good score,” Scott said after his superb effort. “I need to do something like that again tomorrow,” he said, pointing at the good play by Rose for most of the day. “He (Rose) seems to be in total control of what he’s doing out there.”
Total control? Not quite. The three bad holes by Rose gave hope to Scott as well as Jon Rahm, winner of this event in 2017. A 68 by Rahm got him to 14-under and he’ll play in the day’s final threesome with Rose and Scott.
