Lee pulls away, leads Houston Open by 4

HOUSTON — Min Woo Lee chipped in for birdie to take the lead and then left Scottie Scheffler and everyone else in his wake Saturday with a 7-under 63, giving him a four-shot lead in the Houston Open as the Australian closes in on his first PGA Tour victory.

Scheffler began the third round with a one-shot lead and was stuck in neutral at Memorial Park, making birdie only on the par 5s and missing a few par putts in the 6-foot range to fall five shots behind with a 69.

Lee, the 26-year-old younger brother of LPGA major champion Minjee Lee, turned a bunched leaderboard into big separation around the turn, which included a tee shot on the par-3 ninth that was inches from going in for an ace, a 12-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole and an approach to 5 feet on the 12th.

He had eight consecutive one-putt greens, though some of those started just off the green allowing him to putt.

“Everything’s kind of clicking and I just feel really good about it,” Lee said.

Lee, who has three European tour title and one on the Asian Tour, was at 17-under 193. He was four shots ahead of Alejandro Tosti of Argentina, who had a 65. Tosti contended to the very end a year ago in the Houston Open and now gets another crack.

Scheffler was five shots behind along with Ryan Fox (65) and Ryan Gerard (68). Rory McIlroy was the first to tee off on No. 10 with the two-tee start, made a late eagle for a 66 and was eight shots behind.

Scheffler made his first bogey of the tournament on the fourth hole when he went over the green and pitched too strongly. Worse than bogey, he wasn’t making anything, even at the end of the round when he had a chance to at least close the gap.

He had a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 16th that stopped a turn away from dropping. On the reachable par-4 17th, he blasted out weakly from a front bunker and missed a 12-foot birdie chance, and his 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th never had a chance.

“I feel like yesterday I holed a bunch of putts,” said Scheffler, who was coming off a 62. “Today I feel like I couldn’t get the ball to go in the hole.”

Davis Thompson made an early surge to catch Scheffler before falling back. Then it was tight at the top among Scheffler, Lee and Taylor Pendrith. And with a burst of birdie, Lee had the stage to himself.

It started with missing the green with a wedge on the sixth hole, only for Lee — often referred to as “Dr. Chipinski” — lived up to his nickname by holing the chip to go one ahead of Scheffler. And then he kept right on going, making four birdies in a six-hole stretch starting with that near ace on the ninth hole.

He stretched his lead to as many as six shots until players chasing him made up a little bit of ground as Lee failed to capitalize on a closing stretch of birdie chances at Memorial Park. He three-putted from 70 feet for par on the par-5 16th, and his drive on the 301-yard 17th was near the grandstand, leaving him a touch chip to 15 feet for a two-putt par.

But he was satisfied with his long day of work. Lee had to return early Saturday for a couple of holes to complete the rain-delayed third round, putting him in the last group with Scheffler and Pendrith. He was wiped out by the end of the day.

“I need to get back into bed,” said Lee, who figures he slept only five or six hours. “But maybe that’s what I have to do. I might have to do two warm-ups, two physio sessions and maybe I can shoot 7 under all the time. No, it was great fun and very solid overall.”

Lee already is in the Masters from being in the top 50 in the world at the end of last year. A trip to Augusta National is at stake Sunday for Michael Kim and Ben Griffin, both just outside the top 50 in the world with the cutoff after the Houston Open.

Kim was tied for 29th, which should be enough for him to crack the top 50. Griffin was tied for 41st and had a little work to do on Sunday.