Akshay Bathia (-17) and Aaron Rai (-17) maintain their lead at the Rocket Mortage Classic after handing in 68-stroke cards in the third round of the PGA Tour tournament in Detroit, played this Saturday. Four birdies without a mistake for the American, who already knows what it is to win on the circuit and whose name is beginning to appear very frequently in the top of the classification in most events in which he participates, and five birdies with a bogey for the Englishman, who in 84 tournaments on the tour has a third place as the best result, to jointly command a group of aspirants to victory.
The Australian Cam Davis (-16), with a notable 66 this Saturday, and the American Cameron Young (-16) present themselves as the main alternatives in the fight for victory. But they are not the only ones who aspire to surpass Bathia and Rai in the last 18 holes of the tournament at the Golf Club in the Motor City. Five more players appear three strokes or less from the leaders, among whom are Sam Stevens (-15), Erik van Rooyen (-15), the amateur Luke Clanton (-14), Min Woo Lee (-14) and Joel Dahmen (-14). Much is still to be decided…
Rickie Fowler (-11), the great media star of the tournament, who also defends the title he won a year ago at this same venue, the last to date from his record on the circuit, has tried by all means to re-engage in the battle after his poor 72 on Friday. But his round of 67 strokes today, although it has allowed him to climb almost 20 positions and place himself in the top 20 of the classification, seems insufficient for his goal of trying to re-edit the title. He would need a great round on Sunday and too many people to fail to dream of winning again.
The young Neal Shipley (-11) has also been unable to keep up with the birdie pace of the top-ranked players, who with 70 strokes on this ‘moving day’ has stayed in 19th place tied with Rickie and several other players. The Spanish Jorge Campillo, hampered by a bad start to the tournament, could not make the cut on Friday, which was set at four under par (he finished three strokes), wasting one of the ‘bullets’ he has left in the chamber to add enough points to allow him to maintain the playing rights of the PGA Tour for 2025.
