Mackenzie Hughes stumbles during third round of RSM Classic but still has one-shot lead

One bad decision cost Mackenzie Hughes his three-shot lead in the RSM Classic. Remarkable poise and a pure putting stroke for the Canadian rookie left him one round away from a wire-to-wire victory at Sea Island.

Hughes bounced back from his blunder with a tough par save, three birdies and a two-under 68 that gave him a one-shot lead over Billy Horschel, Camilo Villegas and C.T. Pan going into the final round expected to feature more strong wind.

“Everyone’s going to be fighting the same kind of nerves trying to win, and hopefully, I’ll be on top again tomorrow,” Hughes said.

Hughes was sailing along on the Seaside course Saturday, bogey-free for the first 46 holes of the tournament, when he tried to do too much from an awkward lie in a fairway bunker on the 11th hole instead of pitching back to the fairway. His feet slipped in the sand on his first shot, and it stayed in the bunker in a worse lie. The next shot was so fat it only went about 40 yards into another bunker. And then he three-putted from 50 feet and his lead had vanished.

“It was almost like I had been punched in the face there, making a triple after everything seemed to be going pretty smoothly,” Hughes said.

He kept enough of senses to remind himself that he was still tied for the lead in only his fifth event of his rookie season, and there was plenty of golf left. What followed was his most important shot of the week, a super pitch up a steep slope to a back pin to tap-in range to save par, and then three birdies over the next four holes.

“That pitch on 12 was probably my shot of the day,” he said. “Because if I follow that up with a bogey, the wheels start to come off even more.”

Hughes was at 16-under 196.

Horschel, who hasn’t won since the Tour Championship two years ago when he captured the FedEx Cup, holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole of the Seaside course at Sea Island for a 65. Villegas overcame a double bogey early in his round and finished with four straight birdies for a 64.

Joining them at 15-under 197 was another PGA Tour rookie, Pan of Taiwan. He shot a 67 playing in the final group.

More than costing Hughes a big lead, that triple bogey made the final round of the year on the PGA Tour far more bunched than it needed to be. Ten players were within four shots of the lead, a group that included Charles Howell III (13-under 199) and Stewart Cink (12-under 200).

Ko, Jutanugarn dueling for LPGA’s top honors

Lydia Ko and Ariya Jutanugarn will settle the LPGA Tour’s biggest awards and prizes Sunday at Tiburon in Naples, Fla. They’re chasing Charley Hull in the CME Group Tour Championship.

Hull birdied all four par-five holes in a bogey-free, six-under 66 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over Brittany Lincicome (66) and So Yeon Ryu (69). The 20-year-old Hull, from England, had a 13-under 203 total. She’s winless on the tour.

The top-ranked Ko, the second-round leader after a 62, had a 73 to drop into a tie for third at 11 under with No. 2 Jutanugarn (65), In Gee Chun (68), Jennifer Song (66) and Lizette Salas (67).

Ko needs a victory to top Jutanugarn in the player of the year race, and also would take the season points title and $1-million CME Globe bonus with a win. Ko also is fighting Jutanugarn for the money title and Chun for the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average.

First-round leader Shanshan Feng is tied for 12th at eight under after a 69. The Chinese star is coming off consecutive victories in Malaysia and Japan.

McCarron, Mallinger share lead Pebble Beach

Scott McCarron shot a two-under 70 at Pebble Beach for a share of the lead with John Mallinger in the Pebble Beach Invitational.

Mallinger had a 75 at Spyglass Hill to match McCarron at six-under 210. McCarron won twice this season on the PGA Tour Champions.

Kevin Sutherland and Parker McLachlin were two strokes back. McLachlin had a 67 at Spanish Bay, and Sutherland shot 72 at Spyglass.

The final round will be played at Pebble Beach.

Ogilvy leads at Australian Open

Former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Australian Open after soaring up the leaderboard with an eight-under 64 in the third round.

Ogilivy, who ended the day with an 11-under tally of 205, faces a tough last round at Royal Sydney in which he will be hotly pursued by a chasing pack which includes American star Jordan Speith and his Australian compatriots Aaron Baddeley and Rod Pampling.

Two-time champion Baddeley, former world No. 1 Spieth and New Zealander Ryan Fox will go into the last round tied at nine under, two shots behind Ogilvy, while Pampling is a shot further back at 208 — eight under after 54 holes. Baddeley had a five-under 67 Saturday, while Spieth shot a four-under 68.