Patrick Cantlay watches his tee shot on the second hole Saturday during the third round of the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Cantlay shot a 3-under 69 and has a two-stroke lead over Jon Rahm. Brynn Anderson/Associated Press
ATLANTA — Patrick Cantlay finished with a 25-foot birdie putt that gave him a two-shot lead over Jon Rahm in the Tour Championship on Saturday and set the stage for a sprint to the $15 million prize.
Cantlay’s final birdie allowed him to finish strong after a wobbly four-hole stretch that had winnowed his four-shot lead down to one. He wound up with a 3-under 67 and was at 20-under par, leaving him one round away from the FedEx Cup.
Rahm finished with five straight pars for a 68 and was still very much alive. He went from a four-shot deficit after the 10th hole to a one-shot deficit just five holes later.
It’s not easy to go low at East Lake, but it’s easy to lose ground. Cantlay did that with a pair of mistakes over the final hour.
“Hopefully tomorrow, I can bring my A-game and give this guy in front of me a little bit of a run,” Rahm said.
Not to be overlooked was Justin Thomas, though he was agitated with his finish.
Thomas, who began the Tour Championship six shots behind because of his position in the FedEx Cup coming into the finale, was poised for the low round of the week to get a little closer. But he pulled his tee shot on the par-5 18th, went rough-to-rough and then three-putted for bogey, missing a 5-foot par putt.
He was five behind.
Cantlay found trouble left of the fairway on No. 14 and had to scramble for bogey. He badly missed the 16th green with a wedge in his hand on No. 16 and again scrambled for bogey. In between, he missed birdie chances of 10 feet and 8 feet.
And then on the 18th, Cantlay faced a tough bunker shot over another greenside bunker to a tight pin. He played smartly, as he’s done all week, and left himself 25 feet for a birdie putt that put a happy finish on his round.
SOLHEIM CUP: Defending champion Europe rode a dominant performance in the alternate-shot format to surge to a 5 1/2-2 1/2 lead in Toledo, Ohio.
The Europeans took 3 1/2 of a possible four points during the foursome matches and split the afternoon four-ball session in their push to win on U.S. soil for just the second time in the event’s 31-year history.
The three-point margin tied the biggest lead after one day in the 17 editions of the Solheim Cup. The Americans led by three after Day 1 in both 1998 and 2017 on their way to comfortable victories.
Rookie Leona Maguire teamed with Mel Reid to take down sisters Nelly and Jessica Korda 1-up in alternate shot, then combined with Georgia Hall to edge Brittany Altomare and Yealimi Noh 1-up in the afternoon.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Nicolai Hojgaard shot a 65 to take a one-stroke lead entering the final round of the Italian Open – a week after his identical twin, Rasmus, won on the European Tour in Switzerland.
Ryder Cup standout Tommy Fleetwood and Daniel van Tonder, who won in Kenya in March, were in a tie for second, one stroke behind, while Mikko Korhonen stood two strokes back.
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