SILVIS, Illinois — Michael Kim celebrated his 25th birthday with a seven-under par 64 in the third round of John Deere Classic Saturday, stretching his lead to five strokes over Bronson Burgoon.

Kim shrugged off two weather delays, capping his round with four straight birdies to put himself in prime position to strike Sunday for a first US PGA Tour title.

He had a 54-hole total of 22-under par at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Illinois.

Burgoon’s five-under par 66 included an eagle at the par-five second and three straight birdies to close his round.

It left the American on 17-under 196, one stroke in front of Australian Matt Jones -- who eagled the 17th on the way to a 66 for 197.

American Harold Varner was alone in fourth after a 66 for 198.

Another long day started with a handful of players returning to complete their second rounds after weather disruptions on Friday.

That included Kim, who closed his second round with a bogey but still took a three-shot lead over four players into the third round, a quartet that included Burgoon.

Third round play was interrupted for nearly three hours by dangerous weather conditions on Saturday morning.

Kim was playing the 14th when weather halted play again for an hour in the evening.

When play resumed he didn’t miss a beat, rolling in birdie putts of 20 feet and 19 feet at 15 and 16, then adding an eight-foot birdie at the 17th and 10-foot birdie at the last.

He finished with eight birdies overall and one bogey — a three-putt at the par-three seventh.

That bogey, along with Burgoon’s early eagle and tap-in birdie at the seventh, saw Burgoon briefly pull within one stroke of Kim.

Burgoon’s charge stalled with seven straight pars followed by a bogey at the par-four 15th shortly after play resumed in the wake of the second weather delay.

He finished on a high note, however, with a trio of birdies and like Kim will be trying on Sunday to become the 21st player to make the John Deere Classic his first PGA Tour triumph.

World No. 322 Dantorp ahead

Little-known Swede Jens Dantorp birdied the last three holes on Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Scottish Open, ahead of a chasing pack including Rickie Fowler.

World No. 322 Dantorp, who has not even managed a top-10 finish this season, poured in a birdie putt on the 18th late in the day to sign for a two-under-par 68 and reach 13-under par for the tournament.

Dantorp leads from a group of six players on 12-under at Gullane, including seventh-ranked American and former champion Fowler.

In-form New Zealander Ryan Fox fired an excellent 63 including three birdies and an eagle on the back nine to join Fowler, alongside Matthew Fitzpatrick, German Marcel Siem, Scott Hend and Sweden’s Alexander Bjoerk.

Englishman Tyrrell Hatton, who has previously won twice in Scotland at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, is just two shots back alongside newly-crowned Irish Open champion Russell Knox.

Scotland’s Knox will be carrying the home crowd’s hopes Sunday, but will be full of confidence after his thrilling play-off victory over Fox last weekend in Ireland.

World No. 3 Justin Rose is still in the hunt on 10-under after two late birdies in a 67, although reigning Masters champion Patrick Reed struggled to get going and is now six strokes off the pace.

As it stands, Dantorp, Hend and Siem hold the three qualification places on offer for next week’s British Open at Carnoustie.

England’s Robert Rock, who led overnight on 13-under, made four bogeys and a triple-bogey in a horrible seven-hole stretch around the turn to drop out of contention and finish the day on seven-under after a 76. — AFP