Golf roundup: Blixt and Smith lead by four shots at Zurich Classic team event

Swede Jonas Blixt and Australian Cameron Smith prolonged their bogey-free run to three rounds in the new team format at the Zurich Classic in Avondale, La., deftly adjusting to gusting winds and posting a four-under-par 68 to widen their lead to four strokes.

Alternating shots on Saturday as teams did in the first round, the Blixt-Cameron partnership posted four birdies to improve to 19-under, building on a lead that stood at one shot through two rounds. They are the only team without a bogey.

The Kevin Kisner-Scott Brown and Nick Watney-Charley Hoffman teams were tied for second.

Also still in contention are Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer, five shots behind.

The final round, which will start earlier than planned — at 6:40 a.m. — because of rain in the forecast, will return to the “best ball” format used in the second round, in which each team takes the best score per hole.

Nomura extends lead at windy LPGA event

Haru Nomura of Japan shot a one-over 72 on another windy day on the LPGA Tour in North Texas to extend her lead through three rounds despite a late double bogey.

Nomura was at eight-under 205 Saturday — two strokes ahead of Cristie Kerr, two-time Texas winner Inbee Park and 17-year-old amateur Eun Jeong Seong.

Stacy Lewis won at Texas in 2014 and had the day’s best round with a bogey-free 66. Tied for 44th place after 36 holes, Lewis moved up to fifth place.

There were winds of about 20 mph and a threatening storm that created difficult conditions for the second straight day. Nomura led by only one stroke going into the third round. She stretched that to four before a double bogey at the par-three 17th hole.

Frittelli has three-shot lead in China

Dylan Frittelli of South Africa moved three strokes clear of the China Open field after carding an eight-under-par 64 in the third round on Saturday.

Frittelli birdied eight holes in a bogey-free round at the Topwin Golf and Country Club to get to 19 under. Pablo Larrazabal of Spain was his nearest challenger at 16 under after a 70.

Frittelli birdied the 15th to go two shots in front. When he made par from the sand on the 16th and Larrazabal bogeyed, the lead turned into three. Both of them birdied their last hole. Alexander Levy of France, the 2014 champion, was third at 12 under after a 71.

English golfer Chris Wood scored 65 with just a single bogey to get to 11 under, a shot clear of South Korea’s Moon Kyong-jun and Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger. Home favorites Li Haotong and Yi Cao were at nine under alongside South African George Coetzee and South Korea’s Lee Soo-min.