HONG KONG: Abraham Ancer will take a five-shot lead into the final round of the inaugural LIV Hong Kong event after shooting an eight-under par 62 on Saturday. The Mexican had a second consecutive bogey-free round to go with Friday’s 63 to put daylight between him and a chasing pack headed by American Harold Varner III and Eugenio Chacarra of Spain who both carded 66 to move to 10-under par.

It could have been even better had Ancer not missed an 18-inch putt for birdie at the first hole, but that was the only mistake he would make on his way to a 15-under par total after 36 holes. Ancer has been impeccable off the tee, only missing four fairways in his first two rounds and went to the turn in three-under par.

At that point he was in a three-way tie at the top, but Ancer sped away from the field with a run of five birdies in six holes from the 11th at the 54-hole event. The music blaring around the historic Hong Kong Golf Club, which is celebrating its 135th anniversary this year, did not faze him and he almost capped the round with a 35-foot birdie putt at the 18th, which toyed with the hole before refusing to drop.

Ancer said he felt he was striking the ball as well as at any time in his career. “I’ve had some rounds that I’ve felt the same sensations where you’re really seeing the shots and you’re on it and you’re executing the shot exactly how you’re picturing it,” said Ancer. “It’s definitely up there for sure. I can think maybe of a couple of times where it felt that crisp and the shape of the shots is usually exactly what I’m envisioning.”

Varner said he would just try to stick to his own game on Sunday. “I think the most important thing is not to worry about Abe (Ancer). That’s how you lose,” Varner said. “I think I’ve played enough golf to know that the best thing I can do is just give myself as many looks as possible and try to just stay within myself and have fun doing it, and I think the fun part is pretty easy for me.”

Chacarra, who will join Varner and Ancer in the final group Sunday, will take a similar approach. “Obviously Abe is playing tremendous golf,” he said. “Five shots is a lot of shots, I’m not going to lie. My strategy is going to be the same. I don’t really care where I am on the leaderboard. I’m just going to try to have a lot of fun out there.”

Should Ancer falter on Sunday there are a host of major champions waiting to take advantage. Cam Smith, Henrik Stenson and reigning US Masters champion Jon Rahm are all a shot further back in a share of fourth place at nine-under par after rounds of 64, 65 and 64 respectively on the par-70 layout.

“Obviously, I’m not going to play super aggressive,” said Ancer. “This is a golf course where you have to be in the fairway and position yourself. That’s going to be my mentality.” Further back on seven-under par was current US PGA Champion Brooks Koepka, who would have been closer but dropped two costly shots on his closing hole with a double-bogey six. — AFP