After shooting a 63 in the third round, Billy Horschel emerged as the leader of the BMW Championship at Cherry Hills Country Club in Englewood, Colorado. He leads by three strokes, sitting at 13-under par for the tournament.
Horschel's 63 is the best score of the tournament thus far and the 27-year-old is now in control entering the final round. His seven birdies on Saturday put him ahead of yesterday's top three - Sergio Garcia, Ryan Palmer and Rory McIlroy. Palmer sits in second place at 10-under after carding a 67 while Garcia and McIlroy both finished two-over for the day and fell back in the standings.
Although Horschel is in control, he'll have to ensure a solid round tomorrow because Martin Kaymer, Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler also performed well today and improved their positioning. Kaymer was 6-under for the third round and now sits at 8-under for the tournament, tied for third place with Watson. Fowler's 4-under third round put him in fifth place and 7-under overall.
The field was without both Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson on Saturday after the two decided to withdraw for different reasons. Bradley, fearing a potential rules infraction in the first round, withdrew just prior to the third round despite a rules official approving him taking relief from a pitch mark. Mickelson withdrew after Friday's round two because of a 6-over 76. He said he will continue to focus on the Ryder Cup that will take place later in the month. His PGA season will now end and is his worst in over 10 years.
Horschel is also looking to rebound after failing to force a playoff at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday. He chunked his second shot on the 18th hole and finished with a bogey, allowing Chris Kirk to take the two-stroke victory.
"It happened," said Horschel, in this ESPN article. "It's not a big deal. Just a bad swing at the wrong time. You can't dwell on things like that."
He'll look to shut the door on the competition tomorrow and avoid another incident like that.
