Donald a shot clear after grinding out a 69, Knox in mix at the Heritage

SKYSPORTS.COM

By Mark Crellin

Former World No 1 Luke Donald has given himself a chance of ending a win drought that stretches back to 2013 after taking a one-shot lead at the RBC Heritage heading into the final round.

The Englishman, three times a runner-up at the Harbour Town course, kept errors to a minimum despite slick greens and blustery winds, grinding out a two-under round of 69 to reach seven-under for the tournament.

He is a stroke clear of the American duo Charley Hoffman (71) and Jason Kokrak (68), but the current World No 1 Jason Day plummeted down the leaderboard.
The Aussie is bidding for a seventh tournament win in just 14 starts and was joint-leader overnight with Hoffman but never got his round back on track after running up a double-bogey at the par-four third, where his tee shot found water.
He added six bogeys on the back nine as the tough conditions took their toll and dropped into a share of 40th after a round of 79.
However, Donald made four birdies and just two bogeys to finish in front after a day in which seven players held at least a share of the lead at one point.
Donald has five top-three finishes without a victory on Hilton Head Island and the current World No 95 said: "I haven't been in this position as much as I would have liked the last couple of years.
"But certainly I have been in this position many times, especially around this place, and I'll draw from that.
"I think if there's one tournament I've been in this position the most, it would be this one."
A disappointed Day reflected: "I knew something was up when my ball hit a tree [at the third] and bounced 80 yards right into the hazard. From there, I just got a couple of bad breaks.
"It's really tough to fight back after that, just got to try and improve tomorrow and see how it goes."
Patton Kizzire had a better day and is all alone in fourth place after shooting a 71 to reach five-under, two shots behind Donald.
A trio of players are three shots back on four-under in the shape of South Africa's Branden Grace (69), Open champion Zach Johnson (70) and his fellow American Chris Kirk (71).
Kevin Na's 66 was the best round of the day and he is in a group of five at three-under which also includes Scotland's Russell Knox.

THIRD ROUND SCOREBOARD

POS	MOV	PLAYER	OVERALL	THRU	RND	R1	R2	R3	TOT
1	5	Donald, Luke	-7	F	-2	66	71	69	206
T2	1	Hoffman, Charley	-6	F	E	68	68	71	207
T2	11	Kokrak, Jason *	-6	F	-3	71	68	68	207
4	2	Kizzire, Patton	-5	F	E	69	68	71	208
T5	18	Grace, Branden	-4	F	-2	66	74	69	209
T5	8	Johnson, Zach *	-4	F	-1	71	68	70	209
T5	4	Kirk, Chris *	-4	F	E	72	66	71	209
T8	27	Haas, Bill	-3	F	-2	69	72	69	210
T8	5	Henley, Russell	-3	F	E	72	67	71	210
T8	2	Knox, Russell *	-3	F	+2	72	65	73	210
T8	1	Kuchar, Matt *	-3	F	+1	67	71	72	210
T8	57	Na, Kevin	-3	F	-5	73	71	66	210
T13	52	Aldridge, Tyler *	-2	F	-4	71	73	67	211
T13	10	Chappell, Kevin	-2	F	+4	68	68	75	211
T13	-	DeChambeau, Bryson	-2	F	+1	70	69	72	211
T13	-	Delaet, Graham	-2	F	+1	69	70	72	211
T13	-	Glover, Lucas *	-2	F	+1	72	67	72	211
T13	39	Kim, Meen-Whee	-2	F	-3	71	72	68	211
T13	39	Leishman, Marc	-2	F	-3	71	72	68	211
T13	4	McNeill, George *	-2	F	+2	68	70	73	211
T13	10	Si-Woo, Kim *	-2	F	E	68	72	71	211
T13	28	Stefani, Shawn *	-2	F	-2	71	71	69	211
23	-	McGirt, William *	-1	F	+1	69	71	72	212
T24	1	Baddeley, Aaron	E	F	+2	71	69	73	213
T24	11	Barnes, Ricky *	E	F	+3	71	68	74	213
T24	11	Burgoon, Bronson *	E	F	+3	70	69	74	213
T24	1	Campbell, Chad *	E	F	+2	71	69	73	213
T24	17	Crane, Ben *	E	F	E	74	68	71	213
T24	1	Finau, Tony *	E	F	+2	67	73	73	213
T24	11	Hoffmann, Morgan	E	F	+3	70	69	74	213
T24	28	Knost, Colt *	E	F	-1	73	70	70	213
T24	17	Levin, Spencer *	E	F	E	68	74	71	213
T24	1	Molder, Bryce	E	F	+2	70	70	73	213
T24	17	Stanley, Kyle *	E	F	E	72	70	71	213
T24	17	Toms, David	E	F	E	69	73	71	213
T36	13	Horschel, Billy	+1	F	+3	74	66	74	214
T36	29	Howell III, Charles	+1	F	-1	69	75	70	214
T36	27	Lingmerth, David	+1	F	+5	67	71	76	214
T36	5	Wilcox, Will *	+1	F	+1	72	70	72	214
T40	17	Blair, Zac *	+2	F	+4	69	71	75	215
T40	37	Day, Jason	+2	F	+8	67	69	79	215
T40	25	MacKenzie, Will *	+2	F	E	73	71	71	215
T40	5	Ogilvy, Geoff	+2	F	+3	72	69	74	215
T40	25	Reavie, Chez	+2	F	E	70	74	71	215
T40	1	van Aswegen, Tyrone *	+2	F	+2	72	70	73	215
T40	5	Wagner, Johnson	+2	F	+3	68	73	74	215
T40	17	Wheatcroft, Steve *	+2	F	+4	72	68	75	215
T48	4	Dufner, Jason *	+3	F	+2	76	67	73	216
T48	4	Els, Ernie *	+3	F	+2	72	71	73	216
T48	4	Herman, Jim	+3	F	+2	72	71	73	216
T48	35	Kelly, Jerry *	+3	F	+6	70	69	77	216
T48	17	Leonard, Justin	+3	F	+1	73	71	72	216
T48	4	Molinari, Francesco *	+3	F	+2	69	74	73	216
T48	13	Noh, Seung-Yul *	+3	F	+4	72	69	75	216
T55	10	Gomez, Fabian	+4	F	+2	68	76	73	217
T55	10	Hadwin, Adam	+4	F	+2	71	73	73	217
T55	14	Singh, Vijay *	+4	F	+4	71	71	75	217
T55	20	Weekley, Boo *	+4	F	+5	70	71	76	217
T55	10	Wilson, Mark	+4	F	+2	72	72	73	217
T60	8	Bohn, Jason *	+5	F	+4	74	69	75	218
T60	8	Kisner, Kevin *	+5	F	+4	72	71	75	218
T60	5	Martin, Ben *	+5	F	+3	70	74	74	218
T60	5	Senden, John *	+5	F	+3	71	73	74	218
T60	8	Simpson, Webb	+5	F	+4	73	70	75	218
T65	30	List, Luke *	+6	F	+7	73	68	78	219
T65	24	Love III, Davis *	+6	F	+6	73	69	77	219
T65	-	Taylor, Vaughn *	+6	F	+4	70	74	75	219
T65	24	Thomas, Justin *	+6	F	+6	72	70	77	219
T69	4	Brown, Scott	+7	F	+5	71	73	76	220
T69	4	Fathauer, Derek	+7	F	+5	71	73	76	220
T69	4	Palmer, Ryan	+7	F	+5	71	73	76	220
T69	4	Poulter, Ian	+7	F	+5	72	72	76	220
T69	46	Summerhays, Daniel	+7	F	+9	72	68	80	220
T69	28	Varner III, Harold	+7	F	+7	72	70	78	220
T69	17	Villegas, Camilo	+7	F	+6	71	72	77	220
MDF	-	Gonzales, Andres *	+8			71	72	78	221
MDF	-	Kim, Michael	+8			75	69	77	221
MDF	-	Owen, Greg	+8			72	71	78	221
MDF	-	Taylor, Nick	+8			73	71	77	221
MDF	-	Stroud, Chris	+10			71	73	79	223
MDF	-	Pettersson, Carl *	+11			71	69	84	224
MDF	-	Iwata, Hiroshi *	+14			71	73	83	227





















































































The following players failed to make the cut
	CUT	-	Barber, Blayne	+3	70	75	145
	CUT	-	Casey, Paul *	+3	75	70	145
	CUT	-	Cink, Stewart	+3	73	72	145
	CUT	-	de Jonge, Brendon *	+3	71	74	145
	CUT	-	Fitzpatrick, Matthew	+3	72	73	145
	CUT	-	Hadley, Chesson	+3	72	73	145
	CUT	-	Hahn, James	+3	72	73	145
	CUT	-	Hicks, Justin *	+3	76	69	145
	CUT	-	Maggert, Jeff	+3	73	72	145
	CUT	-	Malnati, Peter	+3	73	72	145
	CUT	-	Pinckney, Scott	+3	68	77	145
	CUT	-	Roach, Wes *	+3	74	71	145
	CUT	-	Ruffels, Ryan *	+3	75	70	145
	CUT	-	Castro, Roberto *	+4	75	71	146
	CUT	-	Hearn, David	+4	72	74	146
	CUT	-	Jaidee, Thongchai	+4	76	70	146
	CUT	-	Choi, K.J.	+5	70	77	147
	CUT	-	Gore, Jason *	+5	72	75	147
	CUT	-	Lee, Danny *	+5	72	75	147
	CUT	-	McDowell, Graeme	+5	74	73	147
	CUT	-	Saunders, Sam *	+5	76	71	147
	CUT	-	Snedeker, Brandt	+5	73	74	147
	CUT	-	Streb, Robert	+5	72	75	147
	CUT	-	Appleby, Stuart *	+6	69	79	148
	CUT	-	Duke, Ken *	+6	74	74	148
	CUT	-	Harman, Brian	+6	73	75	148
	CUT	-	Jones, Matt *	+6	76	72	148
	CUT	-	Kang, Sunghoon *	+6	74	74	148
	CUT	-	Lovemark, Jamie *	+6	74	74	148
	CUT	-	Overton, Jeff	+6	74	74	148
	CUT	-	Sabbatini, Rory *	+6	71	77	148
	CUT	-	Allenby, Robert	+7	73	76	149
	CUT	-	Marino, Steve	+7	72	77	149
	CUT	-	Swafford, Hudson *	+7	76	73	149
	CUT	-	Curran, Jon	+8	73	77	150
	CUT	-	Gay, Brian	+8	73	77	150
	CUT	-	Collins, Chad *	+9	73	78	151
	CUT	-	Hubbard, Mark *	+9	73	78	151
	CUT	-	Mitchum, Kelly	+9	76	75	151
	CUT	-	O'Hair, Sean	+9	75	76	151
	CUT	-	Ortiz, Carlos *	+9	72	79	151
	CUT	-	Reifers, Kyle	+9	77	74	151
	CUT	-	Stegmaier, Brett	+9	76	75	151
	CUT	-	Todd, Brendon *	+9	76	75	151
	CUT	-	Henry, J.J.	+12	74	80	154
	CUT	-	Steele, Brendan *	+12	76	78	154
	WD	-	Gainey, Tommy *	E	69	46	115
	WD	-	English, Harris *	+6	77		77
	WD	-	Weir, Mike *	+7	78		78
	WD	-	Compton, Erik	+15	81	40	121