Bhatia fires four straight birdies in late stages of Round 3 at Rocket Classic

Akshay Bhatia, who made the cut on the line, produced four birdies in a row in the late stages of his third round as he shot 2-under 70 and moved to 8-under for three days at the Rocket Classic here. Bhatia, who has had rounds of 68-70-70, was placed tied 55th. Bhatia is currently 40th on the FedEx Cup standings, and the top 70 will qualify for the first of the three events in the play-offs, following which the top 50 will move to the second, and then finally the top 30 play the Tour Championship, which had a purse of USD 25 million in 2024.

Bhatia was 26th in 2024, and Sahith Theegala was third. Akshay Bhatia bogeyed the seventh and the 11th and was 2-over till he came to the 14th tee. Then he birdied four in a row and closed with a par on the 18th for a 70. South Africa's Aldrich Potgieter will go into the final round with a two-shot lead, hoping to hold off a pack of players, including Collin Morikawa, for his first victory on the circuit.

Potgieter had five straight birdies in a 7-under 65 to surge into the lead on Saturday. The 20-year-old TOUR rookie was two ahead of Max Greyserman (66), Jake Knapp (66), Mark Hubbard (67), Andrew Putnam (67), and Chris Kirk (69) were two shots back. Three more players were another stroke behind.

Collin Morikawa, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 5 in the world, shot a 68 and was four shots back. Two years ago in Detroit, Morikawa was outlasted by Rickie Fowler in a playoff. Morikawa, a two-time major champion, has not won on the TOUR since October 2023 at the Zozo Championship in Japan. Potgieter lost a playoff to Brian Campbell at the Mexico Open at VidantaWorld in February.