WGC-HSBC Champions Rd 3: What they said

Rory McIlroy (Nir) Third round 67 (-5) Total 201 (-15)

Yeah, it was nice. It’s funny, I was on the phone to my manager, Sean, last night, and I just shot two 67s and he said another two 67s and should get the job done. I’m halfway there for that. I think if I can go out tomorrow and play similar to how I did today, I should have a good chance to win. But I probably played the best today that I’ve played all week. I drove the ball well. Hitting my irons pretty good for the most part. I feel like I didn’t quite get as much out of the round as I could have but I’m not going to complain. I’m in the lead going into tomorrow, so I just need to rest and try to get out there and play another good, solid round of golf.

I mean, right now, the game feels pretty simple. I know that it’s not going to feel like that all the time, but when it does, you have to take advantage of that feeling. I’ve given myself another opportunity to win a very big golf tournament, a tournament that I’ve never won before.

So I want to go out there and be committed, play aggressively, and shoot a good number. I took a lot from the win in Canada earlier this year. I went out tied for the lead, and I just said from the start, I’m going to keep my foot down and I’m going to go for everything. It was a good lesson that when you do have something right there, in front of you, a tournament to win or something to achieve, you just have to grab it with both hands, and that’s what I’ll do tomorrow.

Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) Third round 69 (-3) Total 208 (-8)

It was a pretty easy three-under. I missed a lot of putts but I’m happy with the way I’m swinging it so hopefully I continue to hit it like this tomorrow and make more putts. I just didn’t take advantage of it, but still a pretty good round and a pretty good score. I’m going to try to finish as high as I can and you know, try to grind it out. My goal is to end the year inside the top-50, so this is going to be a good opportunity to put myself closer to that goal. I hit a lot of greens and had a lot of chances.

Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) Third round 65 (-7) Total 202 (-14)

It’s been getting better every round. I struggled the first two rounds with my driver. A little bit better today. Still a few wayward ones there in the middle of the round, but you know, I’m hitting my irons very good and I’m rolling the ball nicely, so that helps. You need to drive it good here. If you drive it good around this golf course, with the greens being the way they are, you can score low. You can have a low score because it’s like I said before, I think it’s the best I’ve seen the greens before. I played with Rory the last two rounds last week. He’s absolutely striping it. I need to play really good golf tomorrow.

Xander Schauffele (Usa) Third round 68 (-4), Total 203 (-13)

It was weird, I don’t think I’ve ever birdied the first three holes and the last three. Kind of a stall-out in the middle of the round. Yeah, I’m happy, right here in the mix with one day to go. I was hitting it much better than I did the first two days. I have a chance with 18 holes. I played with Rory every day. He’s hitting it nice and putting well. It will be a fun final day. My strength is coming back a little bit. Still a little off. I was laughing with my caddie. I had trouble carrying a bunker at 280, which for me is normally, you know, it doesn’t matter how I hit it. Normally I swing fast enough — just take what I can get throughout the day, and it was nice. I don’t think I’ve ever birdied the first three and the last three. So it was a weird day.

Ends.