Akshay Bhatia fires four straight birdies in late stages of Round 3 at Rocket Classic

Detroit (USA), June 29 (IANS) Akshay Bhatia who made the cut on the line produced four birdies in a row in the late stages of his third round as he shot 2-under 70 and moved to 8-under for three days at the Rocket Classic.

Bhatia, who has had rounds of 68-70-70, is now tied Tied-55th.

Bhatia is currently 40th on the FedEx Cup standings and the top 70 will qualify for the first of the three events in the play-offs, following which the Top-50 will move to the second and then finally the Top-30 play the Tour Championship, which had a purse of USD 25 million in 2024. Bhatia was 26th in 2024 and Sahith Theegala was third.

Bhatia bogeyed the seventh and the 11th and was 2-over till he came to 14th tee. Then he birdied four in a row and closed with a par on the 18th for a 70.

South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter goes into the final round of the Rocket Classic with a two-shot lead, hoping to hold off a pack of players, including Collin Morikawa, for his first victory on the circuit.

Potgieter had five straight birdies in a 7-under 65 to surge into the lead Saturday.

The 20-year-old Tour rookie is two ahead of Max Greyserman (66), Jake Knapp (66), Mark Hubbard (67), Andrew Putnam (67) and Chris Kirk (69) were two shots back. Three more players were another stroke behind.

Collin Morikawa, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 5 in the world, shot a 68 and is four shots back.

Two years ago in Detroit, Morikawa was outlasted by Rickie Fowler in a playoff. Morikawa, a two-time major champion, has not won on the TOUR since October 2023 at the Zozo Championship.

--IANS

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