Abraham Ancer shot a best of the week eight under par 62, to be 15 under par after 36 holes in the $25 million 54-hole LIV Golf Hong Kong event being played at the historic Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling,
Ancer, who hit all 18 greens in regulation, leads the fairways hit statistics and takes a five-shot lead into Sunday’s final round. He is now one round away from his first LIV Golf individual title. Ancer is the only player in the field not to have dropped a shot in the opening two rounds.
The Mexican started the day joint top of the standings and birdied five holes between the 11th and the 16th – putting some distance between himself and Harold Varner III and Eugenio Chacarra, who are tied in second on 10 under par. ‘
“I’ve been there before (taking a 5-shot lead into a final round),’ said Ancer. “I didn’t think too much about it then. I just went about my routine and stayed in the moment. And that is going to be my mentality (on Sunday).’
His closest chasers realise they have a difficult task trying to reel in the leader.
“Obviously Abe (Ancer) is playing tremendous golf,” said Eugenio López-Chacarra who shot a 66 himself to move to 10 under par. A birdie on his final hole moved him into the leaders group on Sunday. ‘
“Five shots is a lot of shots – but you never know,” said the Spaniard.
Ancer is in a strong position to leave Hong Kong as a double-winner as his Fireballs GC team, captained by Spaniard Sergio Garcia, ended round two at the top of the team leaderboard on 28-under.
Ancer and Chacarra, both members of Fireball GC, will play alongside each other in the final round as they push each other for the individual crown whilst simultaneously trying to wrap up the team title and stand three shots ahead of Rippers GC. Cleeks GC are in solo third.
The Fireballs and Rippers are seeking their first team wins of the season, while the Cleeks hope to rally for their first-ever team trophy.
“I think it’ll be great,” Ancer said. “It’s still going to be super competitive; we’re always trying to beat each other.
Adrian Meronk is in tied seventh after rounds of 68 and 64, with Anirban Lahiri on three under in tied 31st.
Round three tees off with a shotgun start tomorrow at 12.05 pm (Local HK Time).
In the final round, all four players’ scores count towards the Team score.
Round Two Leading Scores
Individual
Ancer 63. 62. 125.
Varner III 64. 66. 130.
Chacarra 64. 66. 130.
Smith 67. 64. 131.
Stenson 66. 65. 131.
Rahm 67. 64. 131.
Team
Fireballs GC -28
Ripper GC -25
Cleeks GC -22