Danny Lee of New Zealand plays his tee shot on the par 3, third hole. Photo / Getty
Live updates of the final round at the Players Championship where Kiwi Danny Lee begins the day in second place.
Lee is playing in the final group after finishing his third round with a largely mistake-free 70 - but he will have a lot of work to do if he is to catch runaway leader Webb Simpson.
Lee hit 11 of 18 greens in regulation during a solid third round but only managed two birdies on the par 5s on the back nine to go to 12-under for the tournament, sitting in second on his own.
"I'm going to just keep my hat down and play my game," Lee said.
Lee played bogey-free golf - Justin Thomas was the only other one to do so Sunday - in windy conditions in the afternoon.
"It was a good solid round," Lee said. "It was very windy out there. It got really windy out there in the afternoon, and it wasn't anything like the morning guys' golf in the afternoon. I managed to stay very patient out there."
The 27-year-old Kiwi, with a combined score of 204, would have led The Players in all but three of the years since it moved to May in 2007.
But Simpson didn't back off with another shot he wasn't planning to make, atonement on the island-green 17th and a four-under 68 that stretched his lead to a record seven shots over second-placed Lee.
The American started out with an 8-foot birdie putt on the opening hole. His shot from the back bunker to a front pin on the par-5 11th raced across the green and into the cup for an unlikely eagle.
And that island on the par-3 17th was no problem at all. A day after making double bogey to ruin his bid to break the course record, Simpson rapped in a 3-foot birdie putt.
It added to a 19-under 197, tying the 54-hole record set by Greg Norman on a soft course in March. And the 32-year-old Simpson has history on his side. No one has ever lost a seven-shot lead in the final round in PGA Tour history.
The 15-year-old showed the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.