Merritt and Chappell share lead, Tiger fades

GAINESVILLE, Virginia: Americans Troy Merritt and Kevin Chappell, both looking for their first PGA Tour wins, shared a one-shot lead after Saturday’s third round of the Quicken Loans National, while tournament host Tiger Woods fell from contention.
Merritt set an early target with a course record 10-under-par 61 to go 14-under, a figure matched at the end of the round by Chappell, who shot 67 for his 199 total at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia.
“We found something late on Tuesday,” Merritt said about the way he was setting the club before his shots. “I knew it was just off, and we finally found it.”
Merritt had missed the last five cuts on tour.
“The ball striking has been fabulous the last three days. I didn’t make any putts the first two days, but they went in today.”
One shot back on the crowded leaderboard was Rickie Fowler after a 68.
Another stroke back were Americans Charles Howell III (67) and Jason Bohn (67), Sweden’s David Lingmerth (68) and 23-year-old Kim Meen-whee of South Korea (67).
Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa, who led by one after the second round, shot a 71 and was tied for eighth at 11-under along with Briton Justin Rose (65), Carl Pettersson of Sweden (64) and American Bill Haas (64).
Woods, who began the day tied for fifth, three shots off the pace, plunged to nine behind after posting 74.
He shot 66 in Friday’s second round for his lowest score in relation to par this year and found himself in the hunt, a rare occurrence in his dismal season.
But the 14-times major winner, coming back from back surgery and another swing change, was wild off the tee, missing his first six fairways and hitting only 10 of 18 greens.
Woods, whose world ranking has plummeted to 266th, has recorded three missed cuts, a withdrawal and just one top-25 finish in eight starts on the 2014-15 PGA Tour.
Merritt, making his 96th PGA Tour start, carded five birdies in a row out of the gate, then added a four-birdie run from the 12th in his brilliant round of 11 birdies and a lone bogey.
Chappell, playing his 136th tour event, was keeping it simple.


Thai Aphibarnrat secures dramatic victory
Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat beat Sweden’s Robert Karlsson by one hole in a dramatic final to win the Paul Lawrie Match Play title in Aberdeen, Scotland on Sunday.
Aphibarnrat birdied the final hole to fend off an inspired fightback from Karlsson who won three holes in a row to send the pair down the 18th fairway locked together.
It was a third European tour title for Aphibarnrat, known as the Asian John Daly after the long-hitting American twice major champion, and his first outside his home continent.
“My body was getting so tired, so my swing wasn’t at 100 percent, but I just tried to hit my shots,” the Thai told the European Tour website.
“Robert is such a good player — he’s played Ryder Cups, so I knew he could come back. My caddie just told me to stick to my game and not worry about what he does.
“John Daly was my hero — we have very similar swings. But especially this week my driver helped me a lot. In the first four days I was hitting it miles and down the fairways.”
England’s David Howell beat Marc Warren of Scotland by one hole to win the third-place playoff.