• The Tour Championship, Round Three

Donald grinds to within three of the lead

Aaron Baddeley acknowledges the crowd © Getty Images

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Luke Donald overcame a torrid start to battle back to within three shots of leaders Aaron Baddeley and Hunter Mahan after three rounds of the Tour Championship.

The world No. 1 is bidding to make history by becoming the first player to top the money list on both the PGA and European Tour in the same season, but that looked a long way off as he sprayed the ball all over the place early on and toppled down the standings with bogeys on four and six.

Donald has not played well all week, but ground through his poor patch and found some momentum with a birdie on 10. A further birdie on 15 took him back to level par for the round, and six-under for 54 holes. With the overnight leaders failing to pull away, it hands Donald the chance to strike on Sunday.

Baddeley caught fire with some inspirational play. The Australian holed with a wedge from 131 yards for an eagle on the fourth, with the ball flying straight into the cup. Great bunker shots, both from around the greens and from fairways, brought him birdies on nine and 13. Further birdies at 14, 15 and 16 saw him reach 10-under, only to check his momentum somewhat with a bogey on 17 for a round of 64.

Mahan holed a magnificent putt on 18 for a birdie two to take him up into a share of the lead with Baddeley at nine-under.

Bill Haas scrambled a brilliant par on 16 to stand on the 17th tee in a share of the lead, but he made a mess of the hole and repeated the dose on 18 - as a bogey followed by a double bogey saw him slip back to six-under - one behind KJ Choi and Jason Day.

Phil Mickelson has moved himself into contention to strike in the final 18 holes after a brilliant inward nine on Saturday. Bogeys on four and six looked set to send him spinning out of contention, but he found fairways off the tee on the back nine, which gave him the opportunity to fire at the flags. It paid off as he made four birdies to move up to five-under.

Adam Scott surrendered the halfway lead with some indifferent play in a round of 74. The long putter has helped to revive his career, but he missed a couple of makeable putts on Saturday - including a four-footer on 14 and he now sits at four-under.

Webb Simpson came into the event as the FedEX Cup points leader and an excellent birdie two on the 18th took him to one-under and still in contention to scoop the huge bonus fund.

Justin Rose failed to gain any momentum on moving day and an even-par 70 leaves him at four-over for the championship, but he is better off than Bubba Watson who had a horror day. The left hander's round of 79 bottomed out with a nine on the 17th.

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