OTTAWA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Italian Matteo Manassero and New Zealander Ryan Fox were deadlocked atop the leaderboard during third-round play of the RBC Canadian Open on Saturday as each carded a six-under 64 at the 114th national championship to share a one-stroke lead in Ontario.
With the weather conditions hot and dry at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley (North Course), Manassero and Fox were both on 14-under 196 at the 9.8 million U.S. dollars PGA Tour tournament.
Kevin Yu of Chinese Taipei carded a 63 for his best round of the week to sit equal third at one shot back with Americans Lee Hodges (63) and Matt McCarty (64). Mackenzie Hughes (64) was the top Canadian, tied for equal sixth with Americans Jake Knapp (66) and Andrew Putnam (68), two strokes off the pace.
Overnight leader Cameron Champ was three shots back in a group of seven players as the American carded 17 pars and a bogey five at the 463-yard second hole. Defending champion Robert MacIntyre (69) was 10 shots back.
Fox, a 38-year-old journeyman who won in Myrtle Beach last month for his first PGA Tour title, made birdie on the first three holes to quickly get into contention. After picking up further birdies at the eighth and ninth holes to make the turn at five-under 30, he dropped his only shot of the day with a bogey four at the 194-yard 11th hole. The Kiwi would then rebound with birdies at the 12th and the last.
"To be honest, everything went pretty right. I drove it great. I think, if you do that round here, you give yourself lots of chances. Had a lot of good wedge shots, holed a few putts early. Just played really solid kind of stress-free golf for the most part," said the Auckland native, a winner of 18 titles around the world since turning pro in 2012.
Manassero, a five-time winner in Europe, started the day four shots off the lead. After getting to 14-under through 15 holes, he dropped his only shot of the day when he missed a short putt for par at the 503-yard 17th. He would then take the outright lead temporarily at the par-five last when he put his approach to within two feet of the pin and converted.
"I played well from tee to green, but I did that yesterday too. It's hard to say anything wasn't how I wanted it because I need to look at the bigger picture and I'm going to be standing in a really nice position. I will focus onto that, and today was just really good," said the Verona native who was making no predictions for Sunday's final round.
"I'm going to do some putts now. Then I'm going to go rest and basically try to do exactly the same things I've been doing until today. They've been working. That's what I do all the time, and I wouldn't want to change anything."
With eight Canadians within seven shots of the lead, Ontario native Hughes is leading the charge for a homegrown champion. His round on Saturday included eight birdies and two bogeys.
"Obviously it's still so wide open. Someone tomorrow near the top can go out there and shoot 61 and blow this thing open," said Hughes, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour who hails from nearby Hamilton. Last year, he finished equal seventh at the national championship after starting the final round four shots off the lead.
"Last year I got off to that great start. It was easy to kind of look forward and imagine what it would be like to win a tournament 10 minutes from my house and win the Canadian Open. It was difficult not to have that in your mind. I think it affected me. So tomorrow I'm going to need to do a good job of really staying present and being where my feet are. If I do that, I'll have a good chance." ■