Puerto Rico Open 2016: Saturday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

With the bulk of the PGA Tour's top players taking part in the WGC match play event this weekend, Ian Poulter moved up the standings with a four-under 68 to take a one-shot lead after 54 holes at the Puerto Rico Open.

Poulter will enter the final round at 11 under, one shot ahead of Tony Finau, Jonathan Byrd and Steve Marino. Finau, Scott Brown and Nick Taylor made their moves by tying for the third round's low score with identical five-under 67s. 

Things remain wide open for a lot of players Sunday, with little separation between the leaders and top contenders.

Position	Golfer	Total	Round 3 Score
1	Ian Poulter	-11	68
T2	Tony Finau	-10	67
T2	Jonathan Byrd	-10	68
T2	Steve Marino	-10	69
T5	Scott Brown	-9	67
T5	Aaron Baddeley	-9	69
T5	Rafael Campos	-9	72
T8	Nick Taylor	-8	67
T8	Freddie Jacobson	-8	70
T8	Will MacKenzie	-8	71
T8	Kyle Reifers	-8	71

Poulter opened strong with three birdies on the front nine but settled into a groove with five pars in six holes from Nos. 9 through 14, with a bogey on 13 being his lone blemish. He found that silver stroke again on Nos. 15 and 16 with back-to-back birdies that pushed him out front. 

Finau has been one of the most consistent players in this tournament. His 67 on Saturday came after 36 holes the previous two rounds in which he had only one bogey. He's also getting stronger, as a 67 represents his lowest 18-hole score through 54 holes. 

This is carrying over momentum that Finau built last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which he ended with a 67 in the final round. He certainly needed these last four rounds after missing the cut at his previous four PGA Tour events. 

Even before he finished his round, he was slowly moving up the list of favorites to win this tournament, per KenPom Golf:

Byrd, meanwhile, just continues his mastery of the Coco Beach Golf and Country Club. 

The South Carolina native has improved his score every round of the Puerto Rico Open, starting with a 70 and following that with consecutive rounds of 68. 

Marino has followed a Finau path with steady and consistent performances, posting a 69 on Saturday after a 67 in the second round. 

Things were not as rosy for Rafael Campos, who has lost any momentum he appeared to have built during his opening-round 64. The Puerto Rico native followed Friday's 71 with an even-par 72, falling down to a tie for fifth place after entering Saturday in the lead. 

It seemed as if the good vibes Campos built Thursday were not meant to last, simply because he doesn't have a track record of success in this event, as the PGA Tour tweeted out after the second round:

Golf is an unusual sport that does open doors to even the most obscure players, so Campos had every reason to assume he could right the ship. It just wasn't meant to be, as he got off to a dreadful start in the third round, per PGATour.com's Sean Martin:

Campos never fully recovered from that, though he did eventually settle in on the back nine to salvage even par for the day. 

Taylor was part of the group that had the course figured out Saturday. He moved into contention thanks to a 67 that moved his score to eight under. His lone blemish on the day came on No. 16 with a bogey, which came after he made six birdies in the first 15 holes. 

This has been a fluid leaderboard all weekend. Campos held the lead for two rounds largely because he opened with a 64, but the field opened up Saturday when he was unable to find any momentum and others played well. 

Poulter is seeking his first PGA Tour win since November 2012. He hasn't had a final-round score under 70 since the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in November, so expect to see fellow contenders like Finau, Byrd et al. put pressure on the 40-year-old with 18 holes remaining.  

Post-Round Reaction

After taking the 54-hole lead, Poulter said his biggest moment of the round came when he saved a birdie after hitting a bunker near the green on the par-five 15th hole, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com):

"

It was a big save. Obviously it's a par 5, it's pretty much reachable in two off of a decent drive and I kind of left myself in an awkward spot. It wasn't lying very well on the right-hand side just short of the green. I guess I got a little bit too cute, hit it in the front trap, splashed it out to 15 feet, but I rolled that par putt in the middle. Each putt like that obviously makes a difference at the end of the week.

"

While Poulter was all smiles, Campos did not have the same exuberance after his even-par round. He blamed his bad start on poor ball-striking early, per the AP:

"

I was having some difficulty kind of getting my tempo going and coming over the top on most of the shots at the beginning. But I was fortunate to kind of get a good rhythm afterward, a good tempo especially coming into the back nine. ... I really didn't strike the ball well, as good as I wanted, but was able to at least recover myself a little bit at the end.

"

The good news for Campos is he was able to salvage a decent round that didn't drop him completely out of contention. There's a hill to climb, but he proved on Thursday there are low scores to be found on the course.