Justin Rose remained in charge at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut as he closed in on a second US PGA Tour win in a month.
Rose, a first-time winner in the United States on June 6 at the Memorial Tournament, will take a three shot lead into the final round at TPC River Highlands near Hartford on Sunday, the Englishman having shot a solid two under par 68 to back up opening rounds of 64 and 62 and reach 16 under par after 54 holes.
Rose, 29, had led by four strokes from American Kevin Sutherland after 36 holes, and after eight holes of his third round his lead had stretched to six strokes before Ben Curtis closed the gap with a 64.
The European Ryder Cup star had just one bogey through the first two rounds and he added two more birdies on his front nine to turn at 16 under for the tournament before his second over-par hole of the week came at the par five 13th, where he found the lake off the tee and then missed his par putt.
Rose was happy, though with the way he bounced back, not least with a birdie at the 15thon his way to his 68 to get back to 16 under.
American Curtis is in second place on 13 under and Vaughn Taylor in third at 11 under thanks to a 67.
Like Curtis, Ricky Barnes had a 64 to reach ten under as part of a seven way tie for fourth, joined by Zimbabwe's Brendon De Jonge (67), Australia's Matt Jones (68), Americans Bubba Watson (67), Bill Lunde (69) and US Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin, who rallied from two bogeys on his front nine with four birdies and one bogey in his last six holes for a 69.
Sutherland fell back to nine under with a 71 that puts him in a tie for 11thwith Retief Goosen of South Africa, who shot a 64.
Sweden's Carl Petterson had a 67 that put him in a large group at eight under while Ireland's Padraig Harrington was among those at six under par following a third round 69.
