LOS CABOS, Mexico — Matt Kuchar blew an enormous lead with a late collapse Saturday within the World Large Expertise Championship, leaving him tied with Camilo Villegas with a spherical left at Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal at Diamante.

Six strokes forward at 24 beneath with three holes left on a breezy, cloudy afternoon on the tip of Baja California. Kuchar pulled his drive on 15 left into dense bushes and made a quadruple-bogey 8. He then bogeyed the par-3 sixteenth, limiting the harm with a 12-foot bogey putt.

“Hear, this course has some trickiness to it,” Kuchar stated. “That fifteenth gap is one I feel all of us have circled — `I feel this might be an enormous quantity.′ — and for me it was immediately,” Kuchar stated. “Hear, it’s golf.”

Kuchar closed with two pars — along with his birdie strive on the par-5 18th hitting the cup — for a 5-under 67. Enjoying alongside Kuchar within the ultimate group, Villegas completed birdie-birdie-bogey-birdie for a 69 to affix Kuchar at 19 beneath.

“Emotionally, I used to be fairly at peace on the golf course and made nice birdies on No. 15 and 16, in all probability two of the holes that had been enjoying the hardest,” Villegas stated. “Matt was sort of working away, however golf is bizarre and he got here again to us.

The 45-year-old Kuchar received the event in 2018 at Mayakoba. A month after that, he received the Sony Open in Hawaii for the latest of his 9 PGA Tour titles.

“I actually just like the state of my sport, so right here I’m,” Kuchar stated. “I’m fairly good at letting that stuff roll off my again. I let that one roll off my again and go attempt to play some good golf tomorrow.”

After opening with consecutive 65s on Thursday and Friday in calm circumstances, Kuchar eagled the par-5 first on Saturday and had six birdies and a bogey in a front-nine 29. He birdied Nos. 12-14 to get to 10 beneath for the spherical and 24 beneath general earlier than the meltdown.

“One unhealthy swing might be all I made,” Kuchar stated. “That drive on 15, tried to trip the wind. I’m not usually one to attempt to hit attracts and I hit a hook within the junk, after which from there 15 can sort of creep up and sort of get you.”

Villegas, two strokes forward after opening 64-64, is combating to realize his full PGA Tour card. The 41-year-old Colombian cut up time between the Korn Ferry Tour and no matter PGA Tour occasions he might get on this yr, and he stands at No. 223 within the FedExCup with solely three tournaments left. The highest 125 have full playing cards for 2024; the highest 150 at the very least have conditional standing.

“We’ll be again tomorrow, play good, hold staying aggressive,” Villegas stated. “There’s lots of low scores on this golf course. See what occurs.”

Erik van Rooyen, who got here into the week at No. 125 within the FedExCup, was a stroke again at 18 beneath after a 66.

“The fairways are broad, so everybody’s going to be hitting all of them. It’s a second-shot golf course,” van Rooyen stated. “There’s plenty of little pockets within the greens and it sort of fits my sport. I’ve putted effectively this week as effectively, so all the things’s coming collectively properly.

Mackenzie Hughes (63), Will Gordon (67) and Justin Suh (68) had been 17 beneath.

Kuchar and Villegas are the primary two gamers 40 or over to share a 54-hole lead on PGA Tour since Stewart Cink and Ben Crane within the 2017 FedEx St. Jude Traditional.