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Taxas Open: Si Woo Kim holds narrow advantage
Si Woo Kim saw his halfway lead reduced at the Valero Texas Open, but a birdie at the final hole in round three means he remains the man to catch.
Leaderboard
-15 SW Kim
-14 Conners
-13 Hoffman
-11 Brown, Vegas, KH Lee
-10 Lee, Schenk
Day three report
Si Woo Kim saw his halfway lead reduced at the Valero Texas Open, but a birdie at the final hole in round three means he remains the man to catch.
The Korean had been joined at the top of the leaderboard by Corey Conners, the Canadian who came through Monday qualifying to make the field, until edging back in front following a fine up-and-down at the concluding par-five.
Charley Hoffman, a former winner at TPC San Antonio, stormed through the field with a 64 to move into third place but the expected challenges from Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth failed to materialise.
Kim was four clear after successive rounds of 66, but a bogey at the tough first hole allowed the pack to close and it was Conners who took full advantage.
Bidding to become the first Monday qualifier to go on and win the event since Arjun Atwal in 2010, Conners birdied five of the first seven as he and Kim began a day-long battle in the final group.
Though Conners played the back-nine in one-under, Kim went one better to hold onto his lead as he seeks a third PGA Tour title on the eve of The Masters.
Conners, unlike Kim, is not in the field at Augusta National - but that will change if he goes on to win the event after a third-round 66 gave him the opportunity to do so.
As for Spieth, a nightmare front-nine saw him out in 42 - six-over par - and while he got five of those dropped shots back over the back-nine, his title chances have surely gone and questions remain as to the state of his game.
The same is likely true of Fowler, despite a closing eagle in a round of 73 which saw him end the day eight adrift of Kim's slender lead.
Day two report
Si Woo Kim extended his lead at the Texas Open to four shots with the help of a hole-in-one in the second round of the Valero Texas Open.
Kim made an ace at the par-three 16th as well as birdies at the fifth, eighth, 12th and 14th in his bogey-free round of 66 to open up a healthy lead over six players who are tied for second, including Jordan Spieth and Ricky Fowler.
South Korea's Kim, 23, held a narrow one-shot lead overnight following his first-round 66 at TPC San Antonio.
American pair Harold Varner III and Adam Schenk leapt up the leaderboard after they both carded rounds of 66 to join former world number one Spieth, Fowler, Canada's Corey Conners and South Korean Kyoung-Hoon Lee in second place.
Spieth matched his first-round score of 68 with the help of an eagle and five birdies, but he also bogeyed the first, 10th and 12th holes.
Fowler, at one stage tied for the lead, has also produced consecutive rounds of 68, with an eagle and five birdies checked by three bogeys of his own, two of those at the 15th and 16th.
Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell moved up two places to be tied in 15th place after posting another round of 69 to leave him six shots behind the leader.
Day one report
Si Woo Kim claimed a narrow lead after the first round of the Valero Texas Open as former champion Jordan Spieth found some welcome form ahead of next week's Masters.
Kim carded eight birdies and two bogeys in an opening 66 at TPC San Antonio to finish a shot ahead of Mexico Abraham Ancer, Venezuela's Jhonattan Vegas and the American pair of Brian Stuard and JT Poston.
Spieth, who is without a top-10 finish since last year's Open Championship, was part of a large group a shot further back after five birdies and a solitary bogey in his 68.
The former world number one, who has slipped to 32nd in the rankings, told Sky Sports: "We had ideal scoring conditions so I was trying to get four, five or six (under) out there and it was really nice to make five birdies.
"I didn't hit as many fairways as I'd like and that's where I'm looking to improve, but the game feels good, feels more consistent than it's been in quite a while."
Spieth's course form at Augusta National reads an incredible 2-1-2-11-3 and he admits returning to the scene of his first major title could provide a timely boost.
"It's not like there's a spark and all of a sudden you just win every event, this is progress this is part of a career," Spieth added. "I'm going in the right direction and I think Augusta will enhance that.
"All this feel that I'm trying to put back into the game, less thinking, more feel, Augusta requires that. I certainly think a past history helps but just having the confidence that I know how to play that golf course can go a long way."
Graeme McDowell, who arrived in Texas on the back of a first win since 2015 in the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship, lies three shots off the lead after an opening 69 matched by Ireland's Seamus Power.