Thomas battles back, shares lead with Brown

SEOUL: Justin Thomas refused to be thrown off his game by a double bogey midway through the third round of the $9.25 million CJ Cup in South Korea on Saturday, carding a battling 70 to set the pace with Scott Brown at the Nine Bridges course on Jeju island.

FedExCup champion Thomas coped much better with the blustery conditions and undulating greens than he did on Friday when he posted a two-over 74 and will go into the final round of the PGA Tour’s maiden regular season event in Korea full of confidence.

After hitting just over 50 percent of the fairways on Friday, Thomas, who won his first major at the PGA Championship in August, was solid with the driver in the third round, hitting 11 of 14 fairways and notching birdies at all four par-fives.

Despite dropping two shots at the eighth and another at the 10, Thomas hit back quickly each time, picking up strokes at the ninth, 11th and 12th holes.