Moore & Na Share 54-Hole Lead in CIMB Classic


Defending champion Ryan Moore and Kevin Na each carded 5-under 67s to rise into a tie for the lead in the CIMB Classic. The $7 million PGA Tour event is taking place at Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club in Malaysia.

Moore carded seven birdies and two bogeys, while Na had a spotless five-birdie outing. "It's always nice to play bogey-free, and today I was trying to go out there, and I thought if I shot 67, somewhere around in there, I'd be very close to the lead, and I was able to do that," said Na, a 31-year-old Las Vegas resident with one victory on tour.

Moore won last year by edging fellow American Gary Woodland in a playoff. Somewhat surprisingly, on Sunday he'll be vying to become the first player to successfully defend a PGA Tour title since Tiger Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2012 and '13. "It can only be a positive," Moore said of winning the event two years in a row.

"I've been here and done it on this course, so that should give me that little extra confidence going into tomorrow."

One stroke back are Spain's Sergio Garcia (68) and 36-hole leader Billy Hurley III, who couldn't get anything going Saturday. The 32-year-old Virginian had three birdie and two bogeys.

The third round was delayed by a two-and-a-half-hour rain delay. "Thankfully, we got in there," said Hurley, who's still looking for his maiden victory on tour. "Maybe would have liked to have an extra 30 seconds or something on the last couple shots there, but certainly if the wind wasn't blowing as much on the last wedge, might have been able to hit it a little closer and make it, but all things considered, we got it in, so that's good."

Despite not feeling his best, Garcia managed to card five birdies and a bogey to head into Sunday just a stroke out of the lead. "I just didn't feel as comfortable as the first two days, like I said, with my whole game, and even on the putting green, I felt like it wasn't as smooth with the normal grip as has been the first two days," said the 34-year-old, who, at No. 4 is the top-ranked player in the field.

"And hit a couple of putts early on, and you know, just didn't feel that great, so I said, I'll just go back to my go to kind of grip, and putted quite nicely, I thought. So I was happy with that."

Trailing Moore and Na by three are Americans Kevin Streelman (71), Kevin Chappell (70) and Woodland (66), along with South Korean Sang-Moon Bae (68).

Tied for ninth at 208 are Zimbabwean Brendon de Jonge (65), the Philippines' Angelo Que (69), Australia's Cameron Smith (69) and Americans Patrick Reed (68) and Jeff Overton (71).

For all the scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.