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Matt Jones is on track to end his PGA Tour title drought after reclaiming the lead following the third round of The Honda Classic as Aaron Wise crumbled. Not since the 2014 Houston Open has Australian golfer Jones won on the PGA Tour. But Jones is 18 holes away from snapping a seven-year drought and adding to his solitary Tour trophy after earning a three-stroke lead on Saturday.
Jones – who tied the course record in the opening round – carded a one-under-par 69 to move back to the top of the leaderboard at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
After mixing three birdies and two bogeys, Jones improved to 10 under through 54 holes, ahead of J.B. Holmes (67) and overnight leader Aaron Wise (75).
"I got a lot more experience, a lot more grey hair, and I've been in this situation before," Jones said.
"So hopefully I can just draw from that, and look back on that, and learn from that, and figure it out."
Wise led by three strokes heading into the penultimate round, which he stretched to six shots early on Saturday, but the American capitulated.
A double-bogey at the sixth hole set the tone for Wise, who tallied four bogeys on the back nine – including back-to-back to end the day and three of his last four holes.
Defending champion Im Sung-jae posted a third-round 69 to be tied for seventh spot, five shots adrift of Jones.
Phil Mickelson climbed 15 positions into a tie for 27th following a one-under-par 69 – the five-time major winner two under alongside the likes of former world number one Adam Scott (72).