“I hope that tomorrow I can do well and finish at the position of where I want to”.
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Kisner, 31, has finished runner-up three times in the United States this year.
The 30-year-old is also the first player to win a WGC title on his debut, and he more than justified his frantic dash to China after scraping into the field as an alternate when JB Holmes withdrew.
The jostling atop the Official World Golf Rankings continued Sunday when American Jordan Spieth took over the No. 1 spot from Australia’s Jason Day, according to the ranking system’s projections.
So when Li was asked if he could win, he switched from Chinese to his limited English. “I said, ‘I’m not laying up from 239”. Haotong is one of our own. When he found the water on the par-5 14th, he still managed to scramble for par. He hit wedge to 3 feet for birdie to tie Kisner for the 54-hole lead.
Liang Wenchong, who tied for eighth in the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, is the only other Chinese player to finish in the top 10 in a PGA Tour event.
“He’s playing next week and I’m not, so no matter what happened today, he has a good chance to maybe overtake me next week”, said McIlroy when asked about Willett’s final-round display.
“It could be big for me in the Race to Dubai, especially with Rory not playing next week, I could gain a few more points on him and give me a nice buzz going into the next week into Dubai”.
This is what HSBC had in mind when it started this tournament in 2005 and within two years attached a junior program to its sponsorship. And then on 15, I chipped in and he (Knox) three-putted so there’s a two-shot swing right there.
McIlroy began the week with food poisoning but finished the WGC-HSBC Champions with an impressive 66 alongside Berger, Sergio Garcia, Thongchai Jaidee, Marc Leishman and Henrik Stenson.
Li has made a rapid ascent into professional golf, going from the PGA Tour China series a year ago to the Web.com Tour, and he looks comfortable among the elite.
“It’s an incredible story”.
Li, 20, whose father is serving as his caddie, is seeking to become the youngest victor of a World Golf Championships event. “And there is every chance that will happen, or even better”.
The Scottish star, whose only previous success came in the 2011 Chiquita Classic on the Nationwide circuit, carded six birdies and two bogeys on Sunday to end on -20 and clinch a maiden PGA and European Tour title.
Knox is not a member of the European Tour and so would be ineligible for next year’s showdown at Hazeltine unless he joins the tour.
“I started getting used to the intensity because of the way I played on the Web.com”, he said. “I’m not going to complain about the round but I felt like the way I played could have been 10 or 11 (under) for sure”.
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Kisner is also looking for the biggest win of his career, having been beaten in three playoffs on the PGA Tour last season. But there was no mistaking who the cheers were for in the group ahead of him as Li kept making birdies.
