Stephan Jaeger holds on to Torrey Pines lead despite third-round struggles

Jaeger could only follow up opening rounds of 68 and 64 with a one-over-par 73 on Torrey Pines' South Course, but that was still good enough for a one-shot lead on 11-under for the tournament.

France's Matthieu Pavon (65) and Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard (66) share second place on 10 under, while Belgium's Thomas Detry (68) lies in solo fourth a short further back on a leaderboard with a strong European flavour.

Detry actually held the lead going into the 18th hole but found water and had to settle for a closing double bogey that left him two shots off the pace.

Jaeger, a 34-year-old from Munich, has enjoyed plenty of success on the Korn Ferry Tour but is gunning for his first PGA Tour title.

"It's great to have some past success, but really that doesn't really get you anything. I'm going to feel it tomorrow, I'm going to be nervous," he said.

Friday's round was a bit of a struggle, as he made five birdies but also six bogeys, but Jaeger still felt he coped with the pressure of leading the tournament well.

"It was nice to kind of get some of that out today, some of those nerves. I felt like for me internally I handled it really well," he added.

"Super happy with how mentally kind of attacked the golf course in different places now. I didn't have my best stuff today, so I'd love to putt a little better, hit a little more fairways tomorrow."

Detry was left to rue his closing double-bogey after watching his third shot into the green after a cautious lay-up find the edge of the putting surface and roll back down and into the water.

"It's been a very long day. I think we played in 5 hours 45, I had a little bit of mud on the ball, the lie wasn't perfect, light was...it was starting to be dark.

"There was a couple of different factors that were not in favor. Obviously short is a no-go. So we decided to be smart and there we go, I got punched in the face," he said.

"Ive been working on a lot of things mentally as well and I feel I'm doing everything the right way and it still seems to happen," he added.

A total of 17 players are within four shots of Jaegar's lead heading into Saturday's final round.

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