American George McNeill took over at the top of the Puerto Rico Open leaderboard on Saturday thanks to a five-under-par 67.
McNeill, chasing his first PGA Tour win since his rookie year in 2007 when he won the Frys.com Open, leads fellow countryman Kevin Stadler and Swede Henrik Stenson, who carded rounds of 66 and 65 respectively, by one shot after a windy third round at the Trump International Golf Club in Rio Grande.
While the world's top-ranked players battle it out in Miami for the Cadillac Championship, the Puerto Rico Open features a number of veterans and newcomers vying for a $630,000 first prize - including a number of players, Stenson included, hoping to revive their flagging fortunes.
McNeill's 67, kickstarted by an eagle at the par-five fifth, saw him finish on 13 under 203. While bogeys at the seventh and eighth holes threatened to derail his progress, he was able to answer with back-to-back birdies at nine and 10, another birdie at the par-4 13th and two more at the closing holes.
"You've got to stay patient when it's windy," McNeill said. "You have got to hit some different shots. And sometimes you just take what it gives you. Just patience is what I'll be trying to do (on Sunday)."
McNeill was happy with the way he bounced back from his two bogeys.
"After that I basically just felt like there was a lot of golf, a lot of time, a lot of holes that I played well on," McNeill said. "I played the back nine pretty well all week, so just tried to remember that and move forward.
"I feel comfortable with what I'm doing. I'm not saying I'm going to win, because you never know. I'll just try and continue to do exactly what I've been doing. I'm not going to force anything unless I have to coming down the last few holes," he added.
Stenson, a winner of the Players Championship only three years ago, has been struggling to find any kind of form of late, dropping as low as 221st in the world, but he showed signs of the player of old as he rolled in eight birdies for his 65.
He opened with a birdie, made two more at the par-5 fifth and par-3 sixth and responded to his lone bogey at the par-3 eighth with birdies on three of the next four holes. He then closed with back-to-back birdies at 17 and 18.
"I'm not feeling overly confident when I'm hitting the shots, so that's my battle at the moment," Stenson said. "I just managed to really get the most out of my round and shoot a good number.
"I've been kind of grinding it out a bit and it has been a very mixed bag, some real poor shots and some brilliant shots and some long ones and wide ones -- good short game kind of kept it together.
"I'm in a good position. And if I can stay patient as I've done these first couple of days and chip and putt well, I hope I get a chance."
Overnight leader Matt Jones of Australia shot a 72 to fall back into fourth place, back-to-back bogeys on the eighth and ninth halting his progress after starting well with birdies at the front nine par-5s.
Japan's Ryo Ishikawa, in Puerto Rico because he failed to qualify for Doral, shares fifth with Americans Scott Brown (65) and Daniel Summerhays (68) after a 69, one stroke ahead of Canada's Graham DeLaet (68).
Ishikawa birdied the second, third and fifth holes, but slipped up with back-to-back bogeys at seven and eight. He bounced back with birdies at 13, 15 and 17 before closing with a bogey at the par-5 18th.
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