Jon Rahm shot a course record 61 as his bid for a fifth win of the year moved up a gear in the third round of the Mexico Open.

The Masters champion went out in 29 to move within two of leader Tony Finau.

Akshay Bhatia, playing in just his sixth PGA Tour event, will join the tournament’s big two names in the final group after equalling the previous Vidanta Vallarta course record of 63 to sit alongside Rahm on 17 under.

Rahm, who hit 17 greens in regulation, had the chance of a rare 59 but missed birdie putts on 15 and 16 before seeing his drive at the 18th plug in a fairway bunker as he had to settle for a par.

He said following his round: “It was a great round. The swings didn’t feel that different today to the first two days. The first two rounds, a couple of the not-so-good swings cost me a little bit too much

“Today, everything just seemed perfect. Made a lot of great swings and the ones that weren’t great, still gave myself a good result.”

The world number one needed just 25 putts as he equalled his career-low round.

“I think that’s the difference usually in a course like this,” he said. “To get to 10 under you’re going to have to make a few lengthy ones, and combined with really good ball-striking, great round. Really happy with what I did and just glad I gave myself a chance.”

Rahm, who is looking to defend a PGA title for the first time, could become the first player with five wins on the tour before May since Johnny Miller in 1974.

Finau, the only other member of the world’s top 20 in the field, birdied five of his last seven holes as he carded a 65 to maintain his lead heading into the final round.

Rahm, who beat him to the title 12 months ago, briefly edged ahead before the American’s strong finish.

Bhatia, 21, leapfrogged into the final group with an eagle on the last having played a practice round with Rahm and Finau earlier in the week.

Brandon Wu, who was second alongside Finau last year, is a shot further back and the only other person within five strokes of the lead.

Ben Taylor edged into the top 10 with a 66, two better than fellow Englishman Harry Hall.

Phil Mickelson expects the four majors to find a way to include the cream of LIV Golf talent even if ranking system chiefs refuse to award points to the breakaway series.

LIV bosses are pushing for the official world golf rankings (OWGR) to award points for its events, but that has yet to come about.

There is no guarantee the situation will change, but Mickelson cannot see how it is in anyone's interest for the majors, golf's pinnacle events, to exclude some of the sport's biggest stars.

His LIV Golf colleague Bryson DeChambeau labelled the rankings "almost obsolete" when he spoke this week in Singapore. He has slipped from inside the top 30 to 178th since committing to LIV, where lucrative sign-up fees and prize money have drawn a host of golf's elite players.

Mickelson and Brooks Koepka, who both defected from the PGA Tour to LIV, finished tied for second at the recent Masters.

Sharp dips in ranking status could mean LIV stars are frozen out from the majors, but there seems likely to be an arrangement reached.

Reflecting on the sport's showpiece occasions and future prospects for LIV players, Mickelson said: "It's going to all iron itself out because if you're one of the majors, if you're the Masters, you're not looking at we should keep these guys out.

"You're saying to yourself, we want to have the best field, we want to have the best players, and these guys added a lot to the tournament this year at the Masters. How do we get them included?

"We have to come up with a qualifying mechanism that is inclusive, and if the world golf ranking isn't going to be inclusive, then they have to find another way.

"Maybe they take the top five or top 10 or winners of LIV, but they're going to have to find a way to get the best LIV players in their field if they want to have the best field in golf and be really what major championship is about. So they're already looking at that.

"If the world golf rankings doesn't find a way to be inclusive, then the majors will just find another way to include LIV because it's no longer a credible way.

"So it will all iron itself out for the simple reason that it's in the best interest of everybody, especially the tournaments, the majors, to have the best players."

The US PGA Championship is coming up in May, followed by the U.S. Open in June and the Open Championship in July.

Meanwhile, the Singapore leg of the controversial, Saudi-backed LIV series begins on Friday.

DeChambeau, a former winner of the U.S. Open, has little time for the ranking system as it stands.

"You should realise that the OWGR is not accurate, one," he said. "Two, I think that they need to come to a resolution, or it will become obsolete. It's pretty much almost obsolete as of right now.

"But again, if the majors and everything continue to have that as their ranking system, then they are biting it quite heavily."

Davis Riley and Nick Hardy earned their first PGA Tour wins on Sunday by securing the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a tournament-record score of 30 under par.

The American duo shot scores of 64 and 63 in their four-ball rounds on Thursday and Saturday, and they also excelled in the foursomes format, posting 66 on Friday before closing with a seven-under 65.

With five birdies from their last eight holes, Hardy and Riley broke two strokes clear of the chasing pack, eclipsing the scoring record of 29 under set by the team of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele just last year.

For their efforts, Hardy and Riley earned $1.24million each, along with a massive jump into the top 40 of the FedExCup rankings.

Two strokes behind in outright second place was the Canadian team of Adam Hadwin with Nick Taylor, who posted a final-round 63 to tie the tournament's foursomes scoring record, which Cantlay and Schauffele set on Friday.

Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler enjoyed an outright third finish at 27 under, while defending champions Cantlay and Schauffele were joined in fourth at 26 under by Matthew NeSmith with Taylor Moore.

The team of Keith Mitchell with Im Sung-jae came into Sunday's play at 25 under and finished the same way, blowing a golden opportunity to threaten the leaders, while the impressive young South Korean duo of Tim Kim and Kim Si-woo banked a top-10 finish at 23 under.

Lucas Herbert was "shaking" prior to sinking the winning putt on the second playoff hole against Aaron Cockerill to win the ISPS Handa Championship in Japan.

The Australian was tied with his Canadian rival at 15 under par for the tournament after the regulation holes, Herbert having missed a 20-footer for birdie at the last.

Herbert, who had travel issues and arrived late into Japan, missed his birdie attempt at the first extra hole, where Cockerill agonisingly lipped out.

He then found the trees off the tee but recovered brilliantly to make birdie and take home a third DP World Tour title.

"It's pretty special. I got pretty lucky over there on the right to get a good lie after we dropped it," Herbert said.

"Nick [caddie Nick Pugh] gave me the number and it was basically perfect. It was exactly what you'd want off that lie.

"So it was good to hit a good shot in there. And then my hand was shaking all over the place just to get the putt started on line, and to have it fall in was pretty cool."

Calum Hill was third at 14 under, one clear of fellow Scotsman Grant Forrest and home favourite Hiroshi Iwata

Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler retained their lead at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a third-round 62 in Saturday's four-ball.

The duo carded a 10-under 62 to be 26-under overall heading into the final day, leading by one stroke from Keith Mitchell and Sung-jae Im at TPC Louisiana.

The three teams are tied for third at 23-under overall, in Vincent Norrman and Matthias Schwab, Matthew NeSmith and Taylor Moore, and Nick Hardy and Davis Riley.

Clark and Hossler produced a bogey-free round with 10 birdies, including three in a row to start the back nine.

Clark birdied the 18th to ensure their solo lead from Mitchell and Im, who also went without a bogey for the round with the South Korean providing six front-nine birdies.

Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick also managed a third-round 62 to be 21-under overall, tied for seventh alongside two other teams.

Reigning champions Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay could only manage a six-under 66 on Saturday to slip down the leaderboard at 20-under overall.

Charley Hoffman, playing alongside Nick Watney, provided a highlight with a hole-in-one on the par-three ninth hole. The duo are back at 17-under overall.

The stroke play tournament concludes with the alternate shot format on Sunday.

After a disappointing opening round, the defending champion team of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele shot Friday's best round to climb into the top five at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

The highest-ranked duo in the field, world number four Cantlay and world number five Schauffele made the foursomes format look easy, posting a nine-under 63 in the alternate shot style. It set a new tournament record for a foursomes round.

It comes after they finished Thursday's first round outside of the cut-line as they could only muster a five-under 67 in the easier four-ball format, but they were three strokes better than every other team on their second trip around TPC Louisiana.

They are two strokes off the outright leading pair of Wyndham Clark with Beau Hossler, following their 61 with a solid 67 to be the only team at 16 under heading into the weekend.

One stroke behind in a tie for second are the teams of Im Sung-jae with Keith Mitchell and Doc Redman with Sam Ryder, while the Cantlay/Schauffele team are in a five-way tie for fourth.

The highly-rated team of Sam Burns and Billy Horschel are at 11 under in a tie for 20th, where they are joined by strong South Korean duo Tom Kim with Kim Si-woo, and also the Fitzpatrick brothers – Matt and Alex.

One of the favourites coming into the tournament, the team of Max Homa and Collin Morikawa missed the cut at eight under.

Matt Fitzpatrick and his brother Alex shot a four-ball round of 62 on Thursday at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans to sit one stroke off the lead through 18 holes in the unique format.

The only duos event on the PGA Tour calendar, the pairs of Wyndham Clark with Beau Hossler and Sean O'Hair with Brandon Matthews took the first-round lead with 11-under 61s as each member played every hole, with only the best score from each hole counting towards their team's score.

Hossler contributed seven of his team's 11 birdies, while Matthews had five birdies and an eagle for his pairing.

The Fitzpatrick brothers poured in five birdies each to earn a spot in the five-way tie for second place, joined by the teams of Keith Mitchell with Im Sung-jae, David Lipski with Aaron Rai, Henrik Norlander with Luke List, and Noh Seung-yul with Michael Kim.

Last year's runners-up Sam Burns and Billy Horschel are three strokes off the pace in a logjam at eight under, while one of the strongest teams in the field featuring world number 13 Collin Morikawa and world number seven Max Homa are tied for 43rd at six under.

Reigning champions Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay were disappointing, two strokes outside of the cut-line at five under, but they will hope to claw their way back into things when the format switches to alternate shot foursomes on Friday.

Greg Norman has hinted at a women's series being introduced by LIV Golf.

Norman, chief executive officer of LIV Golf, confirmed he has had discussions with players from various tours to gauge interest, and said there has been plenty of it.

The Saudi Arabia-backed tour began a men's series last year, with the inaugural event taking place in London, with high-profile players such as Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau leaving the PGA Tour to take part.

"[A women's tour] is a discussion we have internally on a regular basis," Norman said ahead of LIV Golf's first Australia-based event in Adelaide.

"I have personally had discussions with individual LPGA Tour players, LET Tour players, Ladies European Tour. They love what our product is showcasing. They ask all the time, 'How can we get involved?' We'd love to see a LIV ladies series."

The creation of LIV Golf caused a rivalry to develop in the sport between it and the PGA and DP World Tours, with the latter recently winning a legal battle against members who played in LIV Golf tournaments over a dispute around imposing fines for playing in competing events.

Much of the controversy stems from being backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, but Norman said it is not his job to question the human rights record of the Saudi government.

"Why not? Because I am the chairman and CEO of LIV Golf Investments, and that's where I focus, I focus on golf, I stay focused on golf," he said.

"My job is to build out LIV and the product and the platform we have on the global front.

"Golf is a force for good. I've built golf courses in third-world countries, in communist countries. So golf is a force for good, it goes everywhere with the right platform."

Tiger Woods faces another rehabilitation process after the 15-time major winner underwent surgery on his ankle.

Woods went under the knife for a procedure to address post-traumatic arthritis in his talus bone, which makes up the lower part of the ankle joint.

The 47-year-old, who suffered severe injuries to his leg in a car crash in Los Angeles in 2021, withdrew from The Masters seven holes into his third round this month after battling to make the cut.

Though no timeframe was placed on his recovery, Woods' participation at the second major of the year – the US PGA Championship – is now in doubt.

A statement on Woods' social media channels read: "Earlier today [Wednesday], Tiger underwent a subtalar fusion procedure to address his post-traumatic arthritis from his previous talus fracture.

"It was performed by Dr Martin O'Malley at HSS Sports Medicine Institute in New York.

"He has determined the surgery to be successful. Tiger is recovering and looks forward to beginning his rehabilitation."

Matt Fitzpatrick believes learning to be patient has been his secret to success.

The reigning U.S. Open champion went into the final round of the RBC Heritage on Sunday with the outright lead after a spectacular career-best round of 63 on Saturday, but had to survive a three-hole playoff against Jordan Spieth before securing victory.

Fitzpatrick fell two shots off the lead at one point, before recovering to force a playoff against Spieth.

"The big thing for me, that I feel like I've learnt when I play well, is just having patience. Just letting it happen and just giving myself time," Fitzpatrick said.

"I just felt as long as I was within two shots going into the back nine, I was easily in with a shout."

The Englishman moved up to a career-high number eight in the world after his win at the Harbour Town course at Hilton Head, just his second PGA Tour win after the U.S. Open.

"Before winning the U.S. Open, before last year really, I probably got overworked over majors," he said. "I was that desperate to try and win one, just changing things, trying a bit harder.

"I probably made myself tired from that, and then you come to this week and you just feel tired from the week before.

"I think sometimes it can be tough, particularly if you really had a grind, if you had a good result. I think it can be difficult to get yourself up for it."

Matt Fitzpatrick secured a sentimental victory at the RBC Heritage on Sunday after surviving a three-hole playoff against Jordan Spieth.

Fitzpatrick, the reigning U.S. Open champion, had come into the final round with the outright lead after a spectacular career-best round of 63 on Saturday, but he found himself two strokes behind through 13 holes.

It was Spieth who had raced out to the lead with five birdies and eight pars through his 13 holes as part of the final group with Fitzpatrick, turning a two-stroke deficit into a two-stroke lead as Fitzpatrick was only one under in his round up to that point.

But Spieth would bogey the 14th, allowing Fitzpatrick to grab a share of the lead at 17 under with a birdie on 16, after both birdied the 15th.

Fitzpatrick blew a golden opportunity to take the outright lead with a poor birdie putt on 17, and then Spieth converted a tricky up-and-down on 18 to force a playoff.

It is a playoff that will live long in the memory of Spieth, as he had his potential tournament-winning birdie putt catch the lip on the first extra hole, and then again narrowly missed a birdie putt on the second playoff hole to keep Fitzpatrick alive.

Fitzpatrick eventually made the American pay, nearly holing out from the fairway on their third attempt at the 18th hole, tapping in for birdie as Spieth sailed his approach long and could not pull off a miracle.

It is Fitzpatrick's first non-major PGA Tour victory, and one that will carry some extra weight on a personal level after revealing this week that his family have made annual trips to Harbour Town Golf Links to watch this tournament since he was six years old.

Patrick Cantlay finished outright third at 16 under, with fellow top-10 ranked talent Xander Schauffele in outright fourth at 15 under.

Mattea Issa conquered the 16-18 age group at the RBL Trinidad & Tobago Junior Golf Open recently, winning the category by 15 strokes at the Brechin Castle Golf Club in the twin-island republic.

Issa shot rounds of 76, 81 and 78 for a combined score of 235 to be crowned champion over Chloe Ajodha 250 (90,79, 81) and Emily Whyatt who was further back on 271 (87, 95, 89) in third place.

"It’s always an honour to get to represent your country and I am so happy that I got the opportunity to do that in Trinidad,” Issa said afterwards.

“It was an extremely tricky course with very windy conditions but I was able to stay calm and bring the win home."

The tournament helped Issa prepare for the Caribbean Junior Amateur Golf Championship scheduled for July 3-8 in the Cayman Islands. She was second to Emily Mayne in the Girls 18 & Under category in the Jamaican trials to select the team for the championship and is looking to ramp up her preparation by competing in other high-level tournaments as she continues to hone her skills for the July championship

Reigning U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick moved into a one-shot lead from Patrick Cantlay at the RBC Heritage with a bogey-free eight-under 63.

Fitzpatrick surged up the leaderboard on the third day at Harbour Town Golf Links with a hole-out eagle from 149 yards out on the par-four third hole.

The 28-year-old Englishman's 63 was a new career-low score, highlighted by four birdies along with the eagle on his front nine 30.

Fitzpatrick leads at 14 under from Cantlay (13 under) and Jordan Spieth (12 under) who carded five-under 66s on the third day.

Cantlay enjoyed a bogey-free round of five under, managing three birdies in four holes on the back nine, while Spieth bogeyed on the par-three 17th, seeing him drop two strokes off the lead.

Halfway leader Jimmy Walker slipped down the leaderboard with a one-over 72, meaning he is tied for fourth at 11 under with Taylor Moore, Mark Hubbard, Tommy Fleetwood and Scottie Scheffler.

Last week's Masters champion Jon Rahm was unable to build on his second-day 64, despite starting with three straight birdies.

Rahm's run stalled with a double bogey on the fourth, eventually carding a two-under 69 to be back at eight-under overall.

Keegan Bradley had the second-best round of the day behind Fitzpatrick, moving to nine-under overall and joint 16th with a bogey-free seven-under 64.

Last week's Masters champion Jon Rahm shook off his poor opening round and rebounded with Friday's best score, while Jimmy Walker opened up a three-stroke lead at the RBC Heritage.

Rahm had a bit of a hangover following his second major victory, beginning his week at Harbour Town Golf Links with a one-over 72, before showing the field how it was done with a seven-under 64 on his second trip around the course.

He birdied holes two, three, four and five to kick-start a bogey-free round with seven birdies overall, jumping from the wrong side of the cut line to a tie for 18th at six under.

Meanwhile, at the top of the leaderboard it was Jimmy Walker who raced clear of the pack, posting his second 65 in a row to head into the weekend at 12 under.

Walker, 44, is a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, but his last victory came at the 2016 PGA Championship, and he came into this event with only four made cuts from 12 starts this season.

He has his work cut out for him to hold off a star-studded chasing pack, with world number two Scottie Scheffler joined by major champion Justin Rose and world number six Xander Schauffele at nine under.

Fellow top-10 talents Patrick Cantlay and Viktor Hovland are one stroke further back at eight under, where they are joined by English duo Aaron Rai and Tommy Fleetwood in a tie for fifth.

Jordan Spieth is tied for 10th at seven under with a group that includes Rickie Fowler and former RBC Heritage champion Matt Kuchar, and Rahm is joined at six under by reigning U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick.

Young South Korean phenom Tim Kim missed the cut by one stroke, while Max Homa had a week to forget, finishing at three over to miss the cut by five strokes.

 Zandre Roye and Jodi Munn-Barrow topped the Jamaica Golf Association's (JGA) Easter Jamboree golf tournament held last weekend at the Upton Estate Golf & Country Club in St. Ann.

 Roye won by six strokes over the reigning national amateur golf champion Oshae Haye while Munn-Barrow was the only female player in the Ladies 0-12 handicap category.

Roye shot scores of 69 and 73 over the two days for an even-par score of 142.

"The game plan for the week was just to manage the game as best as possible, try to keep big numbers off the card, hit as much greens in regulation as possible and I think I did that the first day pretty well,” he said.

“(I) didn't putt as how I wanted on the first day but I hit 15 of 18 greens, shot two under par. I had a six-shot lead going into the second day so it was all about maintaining that lead, try and minimize the mistakes and just execute the game plan as best as I could, and the last few holes coming in I think I really did that."

Haye, meanwhile, scored 75 and 73 for an overall score of 148 for second place while William Knibbs finished one stroke back on 149 (79, 70) in third place.

Munn-Barrow posted 155 over the two days on the back of 80 and 75, respectively.

Six women completed the tournament in the 13+ handicap section with Alison Reid winning after posting an overall score of 193, seven strokes ahead of second place Diane Hudson (200) and Valerie Grant (201) who was third.

Tenny Davis - 155, Giovanni Blair - 164 and Richard White - 175 were the top three in the Men & Men Senior 7-12 section.

The Men Super Senior 0-12 went to Mike Gleichman who scored nine over par 151. He won by four strokes ahead of Wayne Chai Chong who shot 155. Dorrel Allen was third with 158.

Philip Wilson (154) won the Masters section ahead of George Watt who had a combined 173 over the period. The juniors who completed the tournament were Boys 18 & U Jerone Thomas - 178 and Jamal Stewart - 192 who competed in the Boys 14-15 category.