Top four share lead at Heritage

WASHINGTON: Britain’s Tyr­rell Hatton closed with a 24-foot birdie putt Saturday to finish among four co-leaders after the third round of the US PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage tournament.

Mexico’s Abraham Ancer and Americans Webb Simpson and Ryan Palmer shared the lead entering Sunday’s final round of the tour’s second event after a three-month coronavirus hiatus.

Hatton fired a bogey-free eight-under par 63 to stand on 15-under 198 after 54 holes at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

Hatton said he hadn’t felt comfortable over the layout but breezed through Saturday.

The 28-year-old Englishman won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March at Bay Hill in the last completed event before the tour’s three-month coronavirus shutdown began.

Hatton birdied four of the first five holes, opening with a 40-foot birdie putt and two-putting from 35 feet for another birdie at the par-5 second. He made a 10-foot birdie putt at the fourth, a 12-footer to birdie the par-5 fifth and closed the front nine with a seven-foot birdie putt.