Brooks Koepka and Min Woo Lee shared the third-round lead as England’s Marcus Armitage was finally reeled in at the FedEx Open de France.
Armitage had led since his opening 64 early on Thursday but could only manage a level-par 71 on Saturday after struggling to find the fairways.
That allowed Lee, with a second successive 68, to move ahead on 11 under par along with Koepka, whose 65 included five straight birdies on the most difficult stretch of the course from the 13th hole.
Armitage will go into Sunday’s final round one shot back alongside Koepka’s fellow American Michael Kim and Italy’s Guido Migliozzi.
“Yeah, it was pretty good,” said Koepka. “Putted a lot better. I feel like my game has been trending in the right direction. I’ve felt very uncomfortable over the putts pretty much all year but now I feel like I’m striking the putts very well, hitting them on line and feeling confident and that’s honestly half the battle.”
Lee hailed another “solid day” while Armitage said: “I was sort of at 50 per cent of what I can do and I’ve still got a shout going into tomorrow.
“I’m a quality player, I’ve got to keep reminding myself of that. That’s the reason I’m stood here now and in contention and I’ve got to go out there with that attitude.”
