Rory Sabbatini fired a seven-under-par 63 to move to the top of the leaderboard after the third round of the Texas Open.
The South African had an eagle, six birdies and one bogey to reach the 54-hole mark at La Cantera Golf Club's Resort Course on 14-under 196, one shot ahead of Zach Johnson, who jumped into contention after signing for a flawless round of eight-under 62.
Tim Wilkinson, Tim Herron and Chris Stroud are three strokes back on 11-under 199. Wilkinson carded eight birdies for a 63, Herron fired a 67 and Stroud, who held a two-stroke overnight lead, shot 69.
Sabbatini began his day with a birdie and made the turn at one under before picking up six strokes coming in.
He eagled the par-four 11th and added three consecutive birdies starting from the 13th before making yet another birdie at the 18th to take the outright lead.
Johnson began the day in a tie for 22nd but the 2007 Masters champion birdied his first two holes, added three more on the front nine and another three on the back nine to take the clubhouse lead.
Defending champion Justin Leonard barely made the cut but made a move up the leaderboard in the third round with a 64 to improve to seven-under 203.
Collated third round scores
(USA unless stated, par 70):
196 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 67 66 63
197 Zach Johnson 69 66 62
199 Chris Stroud 66 64 69, Tim Herron 65 67 67, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 67 69 63
200 Michael Thompson 68 65 67, Jeff Overton 69 64 67, Tim Petrovic 67 65 68, Joe Ogilvie 66 67 67, Mark Wilson 68 66 66
201 Mark Hensby (Aus) 68 66 67, Greg Kraft 65 71 65
202 Charlie Wi (Kor) 67 68 67, Jeff Maggert 73 65 64, Jimmy Walker 67 66 69, Kevin Stadler 67 66 69, Kevin Streelman 70 63 69, Bob Tway 66 72 64
203 Pat Perez 71 64 68, Michael Bradley 66 70 67, Harrison Frazar 69 69 65, Chez Reavie 67 67 69, Charles Howell III 68 67 68, Justin Leonard 70 69 64, Chad Collins 65 73 65, Jim McGovern 67 70 66
204 Brian Gay 68 67 69, David Toms 68 66 70, Dustin Johnson 67 69 68, Chad Campbell 71 65 68, John Riegger 68 69 67, Craig Kanada 69 65 70, Troy Matteson 68 70 66, Shane Bertsch 69 69 66, Scott Verplank 68 66 70
205 Vaughn Taylor 70 68 67, Tag Ridings 66 70 69, Todd Demsey 66 70 69, J.L. Lewis 68 69 68, Bob Estes 68 68 69, Paul Goydos 66 66 73, Bo Van Pelt 68 70 67, Jhonnathan Vegas 69 67 69, Frank Lickliter II 69 66 70, Jason Gore 65 74 66, Stephen Ames (Can) 68 71 66
206 Paul Claxton 64 70 72, Patrick Sheehan 65 71 70, Steve Marino 68 69 69, Kyle Thompson 66 69 71, Carlos Franco (Par) 69 70 67, Douglas Labelle 69 69 68, Matthew Jones (Aus) 69 64 73
207 Nick Watney 67 71 69, Chris DiMarco 68 69 70, Steve Allan (Aus) 66 70 71, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 65 72 70, Tom Pernice Jnr. 70 69 68, Dean Wilson 71 67 69, Joe Durant 68 67 72, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 67 70, Nathan Green (Aus) 62 75 70, Olin Browne 64 69 74
208 Bob Sowards 68 70 70, Charley Hoffman 68 69 71, J J Henry 70 68 70, Jason Allred 68 66 74, Sean O'Hair 72 66 70
209 Martin Laird (Sco) 67 71 71, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 66 73 70
210 Brad Elder 68 69 73
211 Robert Gamez 70 68 73, Scott Sterling 69 70 72, Steve Elkington (Aus) 68 70 73, Nicholas Thompson 72 67 72
WOOD TAKES ROUTE 66 TO THE TOP
Bengals’ Johnson lands on shoulder, leaves game
STRICKER STREAKS AHEAD
