Nico Echavarria shot 5-under 65 on Saturday and finished with a tap-in eagle on the 18th for a two-shot lead over Justin Thomas after the third round of the Zozo Championship in Inzai, Japan.

Echavarria is aiming for his second victory on the PGA Tour after winning last year in Puerto Rico. Thomas has won 15 times on the PGA Tour, but is without a victory in 2 1/2 years since winning the 2022 PGA Championship.

Max Greyserman, looking for his first PGA Tour win, carded a 64 and is three back. Three more are six behind and still in the mix: Kevin Yu (66), Rickie Fowler (67) and Nate Lashley (63).

“I mean, that’s the way you want to finish a round,” said Echavarria, who hit a 5-wood to 2 feet for the tap-in on the 550-yard hole. “I had a good tee shot, hit a really good second shot and finished with an eagle. I prefer that than a birdie obviously.”

The 30-year-old Echavarria, a Colombian who played at the University of Arkansas, saved par on the 12th with a difficult downhill chip from thick rough on his third shot, and then dropped a clutch putt.

It might have saved his round.

“I started getting shaky on the back nine with a bogey on 9 and an incredible save on 12,” he said. “But we finished the round as well as we could.”

Echavarria is 17-under 193 at the par-70 Narashino Country Club, located about 50 miles outside central Tokyo.

Thomas won his first major in 2017 — again the PGA Championship — and rose to No. 1 in the world golf rankings in 2018. Now he’s trying to recapture the feeling.

“It’s obviously tough,” he said. “It’s hard to win at any stage, doesn’t matter who you are.”

He said early success might have made it look easier than it is.

“To yourself and everybody else,” he added.

“At the end of the day it has been a while, but I’ve still won a pretty good amount of golf tournaments. I know how to win. It’s just a matter of executing and doing it and that’s really been the biggest difference. There’s a reason there’s only one every week.”

Fowler, who tied for the runner-up two years ago and has connections to Japan, suggested he was close to making a run.

“There’s been a lot of good signs, but over the past few events I just haven’t really put it all together,” he said. “So I’m looking forward to getting out there and hopefully we can get a good one going.”

The pre-tournament favorites are far out of contention.

Defending champion Collin Morikawa shot 70 and was 13 shots behind, as is Xander Schauffele after a 68.

Japanese favorite Hideki Matsuyama shot 66 — his best round of the tournament — but is 15 shots off the lead.

LPGA tour

Jeeno Thitikul shot an 8-under 64 to leave her in a three-way tie for the lead after three rounds at the LPGA Tour’s Maybank Championship and with a chance to win the tournament outright this year.

She lost the tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, last year after losing a lengthy playoff.

The Thai player had a three-round total of 16-under 200 on the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club course. She was tied with Ruoning Yin (66) and Haeran Ryu (67) going into today’s final round.

Last year, Thitikul lost in a playoff to Celine Boutier of France. The two players tied for first place at 21-under par, then played a nine-hole playoff which the French player won. The playoff tied for the second-longest in LPGA Tour history.

“It’s been like a heaven week, to be honest,” Thitikul said Saturday. “You know, like KL (Kuala Lumpur) is close to Thailand and I feel like it’s a second home here. All the fans cheering out here, it’s really nice and amazing to be here. And then also the golf course, it’s one of my favorites so far.”

Second-round leader Maja Stark shot 70 and was in fourth place, two behind the leaders. Defending champion Boutier was four strokes behind Thitikul after a 68 and tied for fifth with American Marina Alex (71).

“Obviously it’s good to have memories and stuff, but also know I have to focus on what I’m doing and I feel like this course is pretty score-able so you have to go out there and be aggressive,” Boutier said.

Hannah Green, who earned her third victory of 2024 and sixth of her career last week in South Korea, shot a 68 and was at 8-under, eight strokes behind. She was tied with Brooke Henderson, who shot 66 Saturday.

DP World Tour

Tom Kim shot a 5-under 67 to grab a share of the lead with Byeong Hun An after the third round at the Genesis Open at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon, South Korea. An shot a 1-under 71 to tie Kim at 12-under 204.

There were three others in third place at 11-under 205.

PGA Tour Champions

Steven Alker and Pádraig Harrington, who have combined to win five of the last nine Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs events, share a two-stroke lead through two rounds at the Simmons Bank Championship in Little Rock, Ark.

Harrington and Alker are both 53 and seeking their ninth victory on the PGA Tour Champions. Harrington shot a second-round 7-under 65, while Alker shot 70.

Harrington seeks his third win of the 2024 season in his 14th start. His previous wins in 2024 are the Hoag Classic from March 22-24, and the DICK’S Open from June 21-23.

Alker only other win on the tour this season was at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

The group two strokes back of the leaders includes Rod Pampling (64), Hiroyuki Fujita (67), Miguel Angel Jimenez (68), Retief Goosen (69), Jason Caron (69) and Vijay Singh (70).

After today’s final round, the top 36 players in the standings will qualify for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.