Paul Dunne’s challenge fades in the Dominican Republic

Séamus Power sits six strokes off the lead of America’s Brice Garnett heading into Sunday

Brice Garnett has the lead after three rounds in the Dominican Republic. Photograph: Marianna Massey/Getty
Brice Garnett has the lead after three rounds in the Dominican Republic. Photograph: Marianna Massey/Getty

Bogeys on the 14th and 17th saw Paul Dunne’s challenge at the Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic fade on Saturday.

Dunne signed for a third round of 71 - one under par - leaving him in a share of 15th place on eight under, eight shots off leader Brice Garnett.

Seamus Power is two strokes ahead of Dunne after matching him with a 71 on Saturday - and he was also left to rue a bogey on the 17th as he finished the day on 10 under par.

Power is in a share of fifth place, and will have legitimate hopes of making an assault on the top of the leaderboard after a late wobble saw Garnett’s healthy lead whittled down to two shots.

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Garnett had been setting a white hot pace, and went out in 31 strokes thanks to four birdies and an eagle on the par five seventh. But the American unravelled on the back nine, bogeying the 13th, 14th and 17th to sign for 69.

Garnett sits two ahead of Canada’s Corey Connors, whose 67 saw him move to 14 under par.

Further down the leaderboard Dunne will be frustrated with his finish after quietly bulding a solid round on Saturday.

He picked up two shots on the front nine, with consecutive birdies on the third and fourth, before starting the back with another birdie on 10. However, those late bogeys have effectively ended his hopes.

Like Dunne, Power got off to a good start with back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth. He went gave one of those back at the sixth but quickly recovered by picking up a stroke on the eighth.

However, he couldn’t kick on after the turn, dropping shots on 11 and 17 and managing a single birdie on the 17th.

Collated Collated third round scores & totals (USA unless stated, par 72):

200 Brice Garnett 63 68 69
202 Corey Conners (Can) 64 71 67
204 Tyler McCumber 67 70 67
205 Tom Lovelady 69 68 68
206 Seung-su Han 67 67 72, Denny McCarthy 66 69 71, Seamus Power (Irl) 68 67 71
207 George McNeill 67 71 69, Martin Flores 68 71 68, Keith Mitchell 66 66 75, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69 67 71, Kevin Tway 67 72 68, Troy Matteson 66 73 68, Harris English 71 69 67
208 Andrew Putnam 70 68 70, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 66 68 74, Matt Atkins 69 67 72, Paul Dunne (Irl) 67 70 71, Kelly Kraft 68 69 71, Steve Wheatcroft 66 66 76
209 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 70 69, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 69 70 70
210 Adam Schenk 70 71 69, Shawn Stefani 68 72 70, Nate Lashley 70 70 70, Troy Merritt 69 70 71, Tommy Gainey 70 68 72
211 Hunter Mahan 70 65 76, Trey Mullinax 69 66 76, Joel Dahmen 71 66 74, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 71 67 73, Rob Oppenheim 70 71 70, Matt Every 69 66 76, Patrick Rodgers 74 65 72, Kyung Ju Choi (Kor) 71 68 72
212 JT Poston 72 71 69, Matt Jones (Aus) 72 67 73, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 71 70 71, Dicky Pride 71 70 71, Santiago Rivas (Col) 71 69 72, Michael Kim 68 75 69, David Lingmerth (Swe) 70 67 75, Lanto Griffin 69 68 75
213 Brendon De Jonge (Zim) 66 75 72, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 72 68 73, Richy Werenski 71 68 74, Ben Crane 70 72 71, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 70 68 75, Ryan Brehm 73 69 71, Jonathan Byrd 66 74 73
214 Vince India 73 70 71, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 72 70 72, Omar Uresti 71 72 71, John Merrick 73 68 73, Brett Stegmaier 72 69 73, Mark Wilson 69 72 73, John Daly 73 70 71, Cameron Percy (Aus) 69 71 74, Ricky Barnes 70 68 76, Ethan Tracy 68 69 77, Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 72 68 74
215 Chris Wood (Eng) 71 68 76, Eric Axley 72 71 72, Davis Love III 71 72 72, Augusto Nunez (Arg) 70 71 74, Ken Duke 67 75 73, Scott Piercy 70 72 73
216 Julio Santos (Dom) 70 72 74, Tim Herron 73 70 73, Harold Varner III 71 70 75, David Hearn (Can) 69 73 74, Parker McLachlin 73 70 73, J.J. Henry 71 72 73, Mike Weir (Can) 72 71 73, Johnson Wagner 73 70 73, D.J. Trahan 71 72 73
217 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 69 74 74, Cameron Beckman 73 70 74, Andrew Yun 71 70 76
220 Stuart Appleby (Aus) 69 74 77
221 Robert Allenby (Aus) 73 70 78