Ireland’s Shane Lowry shot 8-under-par 63 to surge into a share of the lead with Austin Smotherman through three rounds of the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches on Saturday at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
Smotherman, who was the second-round leader, had an eagle putt from inside 16 feet on the final hole but settled for birdie. He ended up with 69 on Saturday.
Lowry and Smotherman take 13-under 200 scores into Sunday’s final round at PGA National’s Champion Course.
Taylor Moore (67 on Saturday) and Colombia’s Nico Echavarria (66) are one stroke back.
Lowry was 6 under through 10 holes and then tacked on birdies on the last two holes.
Smotherman, 31, is bidding for his first victory on the PGA Tour. He missed the cut in three of his four previous tournaments this year.
Echavarria’s bogey-free round put him in position to contend for his third tournament title on the PGA Tour.
Jimmy Stanger (65) is at 11 under, while Ricky Castillo (64) and Canada’s A.J. Ewart (68) sit at 10 under. Joel Dahmen (68) is four shots off the lead.
Stanger turned in a rather tame round with a bogey on No. 2 and then seven birdies the rest of the way after Friday’s adventure that included two eagles and two double-bogeys.
Defending champion Joe Highsmith shot 76 and is in 67th place at 5 over.
Tee times for the third round were moved up several hours because of weather-related concerns for later in the afternoon. The first and 10th tees were used as starting points.
