INZAI CITY, Japan — Nico Echavarria shot 5-under 65 on Saturday and finished with a tap-in eagle on the 18th for a two-shot lead over Justin Thomas after the third round of the Zozo Championship.
Echavarria is aiming for his second victory on the PGA Tour after winning last year in Puerto Rico. Thomas has won 15 times on the PGA Tour but is without a victory in 2½ years since winning the 2022 PGA Championship.
Max Greyserman, looking for his first PGA Tour win, carded a 64 and is three back. Three more are six behind and still in the mix: Kevin Yu (66), Rickie Fowler (67) and Nate Lashley (63).
“I mean, that’s the way you want to finish a round,” said Echavarria, who hit a 5-wood to 2 feet for the tap-in on the 550-yard hole. “I had a good tee shot, hit a really good second shot and finished with an eagle. I prefer that than a birdie obviously.”
The 30-year-old Echavarria, a Colombian who played at the University of Arkansas, saved par on the 12th with a difficult downhill chip from thick rough on his third shot and then dropped a clutch putt.
It might have saved his round.
“I started getting shaky on the back nine with a bogey on 9 and an incredible save on 12,” he said. “But we finished the round as well as we could.”
Echavarria is 17-under 193 at the par-70 Narashino Country Club, located about 50 miles outside central Tokyo.
Thomas won his first major in 2017 — again the PGA Championship — and rose to No. 1 in the world golf rankings in 2018. Now he is trying to recapture the feeling.
“It’s obviously tough,” he said. “It’s hard to win at any stage, doesn’t matter who you are.”
He said early success might have made it look easier than it is.
“To yourself and everybody else,” Thomas said. “At the end of the day, it has been a while, but I’ve still won a pretty good amount of golf tournaments. I know how to win. It’s just a matter of executing and doing it, and that’s really been the biggest difference. There’s a reason there’s only one every week.”
Fowler, who tied for the runner-up two years ago and has connections to Japan, suggested he was close to making a run.
“There’s been a lot of good signs, but over the past few events I just haven’t really put it all together,” he said. “So I’m looking forward to getting out there, and hopefully we can get a good one going.”
The pre-tournament favorites are far out of contention.
Defending champion Collin Morikawa shot 70 and was 13 shots behind, as is Xander Schauffele after a 68. Japanese favorite Hideki Matsuyama shot 66 — his best round of the tournament — but is 15 shots off the lead.
