Sanderson Farms Championship R3: Higgo two clear, Kuchar and Homa in touch

Garrick Higgo will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi.

The South African fired a classy six-birdie 67 to move to 18-under par, while multiple PGA Tour winners Matt Kuchar and Max Homa put themselves in contention with some impressive scoring earlier in the day.

Higgo led by one overnight and made three birdies on each nine, although he did drop just his second shot of the week when he made a scrappy 6 at the par-5 8th hole.

The left-hander leads by one from Steven Fisk (65) and Danny Walker, who struggled over his first 10 holes before turning his tournament around with birdies on each of the last five holes to return a 67.

Kuchar, who has 18 professional wins worldwide including nine on the PGA Tour, made eight birdies in a 65 that lifted him within four of the lead on 14-under.

The 47-year-old made a hole-in-one at the 4th in the first round, but he revealed he had no idea his ball had found the bottom of the cup until he got to the green.

"It was one of those things," he explained. "I told some people I made a hole-in-one years ago at the John Deere. I got one clap. The ball flew straight in the hole and nobody knew exactly what happened. One clap was all I got.

"Here I got no claps! I didn't know the ball went in. I was hoping it didn't go over the back of the green. As the anticipation grew, to peer inside the hole and then see the ball at the bottom of the hole is still a great feeling. 

"It was a cool moment. Holes-in-one are very cool. They're certainly very lucky. You feel lucky to get one during competition, particularly in a PGA Tour event.

Homa has been in a slump this year and had a long layoff from the game as he and his wife welcomed their second child, but he is showing signs of a return to the kind of form that lifted him as high as 5th in the world rankings a couple of years ago. 

The Californian is just five off the pace after he made an eagle and seven birdies in a superb 64, and he is looking forward to better things ahead.

"I'm one good round away from being in a golf tournament," he said. "On a week that's good, maybe I play two and I'm ahead.

"I just think I know what's in there, and I know if I can stay out of my own way, I can turn. Yesterday mentally felt like I could have shot 2 or 3-over par and it turned into even. 

"I know those are little things that don't seem great when you're at 40th, but I never really felt like I was out of this golf tournament on a hard golf course where the game feels pretty solid.

"I don't know if it's swagger, but I just think like my patience seems to be better and I'm more tolerant of things that don't go great, and I have a lot of confidence that I can put up a few good scores."

Rasmus Hojgaard, meanwhile, continued to get over his disappointing performance on his Ryder Cup debut last week with a 66 that lifted him to 12-under par.

The final round will commence earlier than scheduled due to the threat of bad weather on Sunday afternoon. 

The Sanderson Farms Championship is the second event of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Fall schedule, carrying a total prize purse of $6m.