India's Anirban Lahiri carded a below-par 1-over 71 in the second round to slip further down at the LIV Golf Greenbrier tournament here. (More Sports News)
From overnight T-38, Lahiri slid down to T-49 in the field of 54 players. Lahiri had two bogeys against one birdie despite favourable scoring conditions at the Old White Course.
Jon Rahm rose to the top of the leader board on Saturday after a second-round score of 8-under 62.
At 14-under, he leads by two shots entering the final round of what promises to be a shootout in favourable scoring conditions.
Rahm's focus will be simply to hold off all the challengers on a course that yields low scores.
Last year, Bryson DeChambeau won by shooting 58 in the final round. So far, there have been eight rounds of 63 or lower shots this week, with Rahm's 62 being the lowest.
The all-Australian Ripper GC took the team lead by shooting 20 under, thanks to 63s by Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert and a 64 by Marc Leishman.
At 36 under, they lead Smash GC by one shot and Legion XIII by six in pursuit of their third victory of the season.
If Rahm posts a second consecutive victory on Sunday, it will guarantee that the Individual Championship will be decided next month at LIV Golf Chicago in the regular season finale.
Rahm entered the week in second place in the standings, 24 points behind Niemann.
Joining Rahm in the final group is Brooks Koepka, the only four-time LIV Golf winner, and Talor Gooch, the 2023 individual champion. Both players are at 12-under.
Herbert and Richard Bland, who won two senior majors this season, are also at 12 under.
Four other players are tied for sixth place at 11 under –-- Smith, Leishman, Jason Kokrak and Sebastián Muñoz.
