Russell Knox in contention heading into final round of The Players

Russell Knox headed into the final round of The Players Championship sitting just three shots off the lead, held by India’s Anirban Lahiri.

As the PGA Tour’s flagship event edged towards its Monday finish following weather delays on Friday and Saturday, the penultimate circuit concluded at TPC Sawgrass with Knox among a posse of players in the mix.

The Jacksonville-based Scot, who had restarted sitting two-under for the round and four-under in total, eventually signed for a 68 to lie in a tie for eighth on six-under.

On his first hole of the day, Knox holed a 30-yard bunker shot for a birdie-3 at the 15th before being unable to convert a golden chance from around three feet at the next.

Russell Knox acknowledges the crowd during the third round of The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Picture: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.

But, after safely finding the green at the treacherous par-3 17th, the 36-year-old rolled in a 17-footer for a closing birdie-3 to boost his hopes of emulating Sandy Lyle’s 1987 victory.

The excellent effort left Knox chasing his third PGA Tour win and first since landing the Travelers Championship in 2016.

Lahiri, who is bidding to make his breakthrough on the US circuit, covered the seven holes he had to play in level-par for a 67.

On nine-under, the world No 322 held a one-shot lead over England’s Paul Casey (69), Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz (65) and American duo Doug Ghim (68) and Sam Burns (71).

On a bunched leaderboard, former Open champions Shane Lowry and Louis Oosthuizen sat alongside Knox.

Helped by a hole-in-one at the eighth - his 17th - Norway’s Viktor Hovland headed into the final circuit two shots further back.

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