Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter will take a slender lead into the final round of the Puerto Rico Open as he looks to claim his first victory since 2012.
Poulter, who missed out on a place in this week's WGC-Dell Match Play by just 0.044 world ranking points, carded a third round of 68 at Coco Beach to finish 11 under par, a shot ahead of the American trio of Tony Finau, Jonathan Byrd and Steve Marino.
Halfway leader Rafael Campos, the first Puerto Rican player to lead a PGA Tour event since the 1979 Tallahassee Open, is two shots off the pace after a third-round 72.
Poulter, who last held the 54-hole lead of a PGA Tour event at the 2015 Honda Classic before stumbling to a closing 74, carded three birdies on the front nine and bounced back from a bogey on the 13th to pick up further shots on the 15th and 16th.
Finau moved into a share of second place with a flawless 67 which equalled the lowest score of the day, while Byrd and Marino shot 68 and 69 respectively.
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Poulter told PGA Tour Video: "It was always going to be a tough challenge. It's a bitter-sweet week for me getting here late, or shall I say early hours of Wednesday morning. It's not the best preparation but obviously we have other stuff on our mind.
"(The) emphasis is on the golf course, concentrating 100 per cent. It's a course I don't know and I've got to know it over the last couple of days and hopefully well enough that tomorrow's going to be a decent day.
"It's been a while since I've been right there and had an opportunity to win a tournament. I've got to take things slowly. I'm trying to improve my swing, my consistency on the course.
"There has been a lot of good stuff, but there's been some bad stuff with it as well. It's about (taking) time to not allow the bad stuff to kick in, keep persevering, keep working on the swing and at some stage the adrenalin is going to kick in and hopefully get me across the line."
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