Taipei’s Pan leads Canadian Open field into final day at Toronto

Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games bronze medallist C.T. Pan sank consecutive birdies to close out his third round for a two-shot third round lead at the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto on Saturday.

The Taiwanese golfer is looking to end a four-year title drought and add his name to the list of Asian winners on the PGA Tour for the ongoing season.

A second 6 under 66 in a row at Oakdale Golf and Country Club took the 31-year-old to 14-under 202 in the $9 million tournament, while defending champion Rory McIlroy (66) was on his heels on 12 under alongside England’s Tommy Fleetwood (64) and Justin Rose (66).

McIlroy, who opened with a 71 on Thursday, is looking to make it three wins from as many starts and put his victory back on the rails with a bogey-free round that included six birdies. McIlroy is aiming to become the first player since Steve Stricker (John Deere Classic 2009-2011) to accomplish the feat.

Chasing a second career victory since his breakthrough in 2019 RBC Heritage, Pan gave himself a first 54-hole lead and a chance of winning once more weeks after returning from a lengthy wrist injury which sidelined him for five months.

“It feels great. It's always cool to see my name on top of the leaderboard. Not just leaderboards, just to be in contention,” said Pan. “That's all I want to do before the tournament started. Finished birdie, birdie. That put me in a good spot. But I still got a lot of work to do.”

With a $1.62 million winner’s prize and 500 FedEx Cup points at stake on Sunday, Pan, who is currently ranked 144th in the standings, knows there is plenty to play for as he attempts to hold off his pursuers.

Pan sank seven birdies including two 18-footers in the first 10 holes, before finishing in style with a 10-foot conversion on 17 and an up-and-down on 18 to give himself a cushion at the top of the leaderboard. His lone bogey came on the 8th hole when he missed the green.

“I played well the first three rounds. So, course management, I won't do too much to change. But you still have to play aggressive, because this course it's a lot of rough, but if you hit it in the fairway you will have a lot of short irons in and you're going to create a lot of birdie opportunities,” added the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games bronze medallist.

“I wouldn't be surprised if someone shoots 8-under, 9-under, because the PGA Tour guys are really good.”

Pan won twice in Canada in his rookie professional year in 2015 which provided a career launch pad. He also represented the International Team in the 2019 Presidents Cup before landing an history Olympic medal for Chinese Taipei.

“I remember my second win. I think I birdied the last five holes to get in a playoff. And I birdied the next two playoff holes to win. So that was really cool. I will always remember the hole I started birdieing. I told myself, I need some magic to happen right now, and it did,” said Pan.

Overnight leader Carl Yuan of China fell off the pace after a 74 to drop back to T16 on 209 as Koreans S.H. Kim, Sung Kang and S.Y. Noh were tied 20th, 33rd and 42nd respectively.

“The tee shots were not very good,” Yuan lamented. “The rough is quite long, so I didn't have many opportunities to attack the greens. I struggled. There were a few mistakes on the fairways, so I need to pay more attention to that tomorrow.

“I was enjoying the atmosphere, I was not more nervous than the first two days, but was excited. I didn't play very well but it was still a good experience.”

Four-time major winner McIlroy gave himself a fighting chance of defending his title and joining the record books. The Northern Irishman is bidding to become the only 10th different player to three-peat at an event since World War II.

“I would love to win the Canadian Open for the third time. I've never won a tournament three times in a row. I felt like last year the win wasn't just for me it was for a few other things. But this one, this year, if I were able to get over the line, will be solely for me,” said the 24-time winner.

Canada’s Nick Taylor posted a bogey-free 9-under 63 in search of a third career victory to go with the 2014 Sanderson Farms Championship, and the 2020 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The last Canadian to win the Canadian Open was Pat Fletcher in 1954.