Korea’s K.H. Lee has turned his bogey course into a hunting ground after charging into tied fourth place following a third round 4-under 68 at the Farmers Insurance Open on Friday.

The 33-year-old Lee put himself in a prime position to challenge for a third PGA TOUR victory at the South Course at Torrey Pines in San Diego, California as his 5-under total sees him trailing 54-hole leader Harris English (66) by four strokes.

Compatriot Sungjae Im birdied his last three holes for a battling 72 to lie a further shot back in the US$9.3 million showpiece while Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, an 11-time TOUR winner, fought to a 70 to sit on 3-under.

In four previous starts, Lee, winner of the CJ CUP Byron Nelson in 2021 and 2022, has missed the halfway cut at the iconic venue but sharp improvements on his iron play has pushed him into contention.

“The work that I’ve been putting into my game seems to be paying off slowly and I’m feeling good. It’s really nice to play well at Torrey Pines which is a good test of golf and I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” said Lee, who ranks third through three rounds for Strokes Gained: Approach the Green.

With his trademark straight driving where he missed only two fairways, Lee’s flat stick was also on point as he nailed six birdies against two bogeys. He holed lengthy putts of 24 feet and 26 feet on Hole Nos. 5 and 13, and was 4/6 for Scrambling. He missed the cut in his first two starts of the new season.

“I’m happy with my round.  I drove ball nicely and putted really well and holed a couple of long ones for birdies. Overall, it felt pretty good shooting 4-under today. I’m only a few shots behind the leader and it’s a good position going into the final round. You’ve got to keep the ball in play here. I’m going to stick to my game plan and hopefully give myself a chance tomorrow,” said Lee.

Im, who has two top-10s at Torrey Pines, struggled early on with three bogeys through 15 holes before coming alive with a strong finish where he nearly aced the par-3 16^th hole, and knocked in further birdies from around eight feet to stay within reach of the leader.

“I think it was not a good day overall. I made some mistakes and didn’t make birdie opportunities. And then I didn’t make par saves on the back nine, so it was a tough round. But I finished well with back-to-back birdies on the last three holes. That gave me something to look forward to tomorrow,” said Im, who is a two-time TOUR winner.

“I think the weather is going to be a little bit cold and windy tomorrow, so it’s going to be tough for everyone. I’ll just focus on my game and not be greedy. Then I will wait to see what will happen. The South Course is always difficult, but today it wasn’t too windy.”

Third-Round Leaderboard

Pos.        Player                    R1           R2           R3 SC      Total

1              Harris English        68 NC     73 SC      66            207 (-9)

2              Andrew Novak     70 NC     72 SC      66            208 (-8)

3              Aldrich Potgieter  66 NC     76 SC      67            209 (-7)

T4            Four players                                                         211 (-5)

Leading Aussie Scores

T15         Jason Day             74 SC     69 NC    70           213 (-3)

T25         Aaron Baddeley 67 NC     77 SC     70           215 (-2)

Harris English (1^st/-9)

• Seeks his fifth PGA TOUR victory in his 340^th start; most recent win: 2021 Travelers Championship in an eight-hole playoff over Kramer Hickok
• Holds the 54-hole lead/co-lead for the fourth time on TOUR (1-for-3 to date: 2021 Sentry)
• Was a part of the four-man playoff won by Jason Day at the 2015 Farmers Insurance Open after holding his first 54-hole lead/co-lead one day earlier
• Span of 1,266 days since his last 54-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR (2021 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational/4^th)
• Finished No. 55 in the FedExCup Fall standings in 2024 to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs for the 11^th time in his first 13 seasons on TOUR

Additional player notes

• Andrew Novak (2^nd/-8) seeks his first PGA TOUR title in his 89^th start; best finish on TOUR is runner-up at the 2024 Butterfield Bermuda Championship; making fourth appearance at the Farmers Insurance Open (T70/2022, T69/2023, MC/2024); bogey-free 66 marks second score in the 60s at Torrey Pines in 13 rounds (66/R1/2023); one of two players bogey-free on Friday (Danny Willett/70)
• South African 20-year-old PGA TOUR rookie Aldrich Potgieter (3^rd/-7), the youngest TOUR member in the 2025 season, would become the youngest winner of the Farmers Insurance Open; makes four 2s in a single round, including an eagle at the par-4 12^th hole when he holed out from 173 yards with a 8-iron; last player to make four 2s in a single round on the South Course: Emiliano Grillo/R1/2023; with a win on Saturday, would become the fourth international winner in the fourth event of the season (Hideki Matsuyama/Japan, Nick Taylor/Canada, Sepp Straka/Austria); last time four international players won the first four events of the season: 2003
• K.H. Lee (T4/-5) entered this week with two missed cuts in two starts in 2025; had not made the cut in four prior starts at the Farmers Insurance Open
• Matti Schmid (T4/-5) looks to improve on his best TOUR result in his 67^th start (3^rd/2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship)
• 2021 Corales Puntacana Championship winner Joel Dahmen (T4/-5) owns four missed cuts in six prior starts at this event (T9/2019, T55/2020)
• Brandt Snedeker (T8/-4) counts two wins (2012, 2016) among six top-3 results in 17 prior starts at the Farmers Insurance Open; most recent of nine PGA TOUR wins: 2018 Wyndham Championship
• Final grouping of Lanto Griffin (T4/-5), Ludvig Åberg (T8/-4) and Danny Walker (T51/+1) were a combined 9-over for the day

• Projected Aon Swing 5 Leaderboard through 54 holes:

• • Andrew Novak (2^nd), J.J. Spaun (T41), Aldrich Potgieter (3^rd), Justin Lower (MC), Lanto Griffin (T4)