Already on Friday, the 42-year-old showed promising form when he shot 65 strokes (five under par).
On Saturday, Norén – who started on hole 10 – made three birdies on his first nine holes. On the second half of the round, he continued to play well. He made two consecutive birdies on holes one and two to go five strokes under par for the day and –7 overall.
Important points
It wasn't until hole number seven that the first bogey of the day appeared in the protocol – where he made a double bogey, but he somewhat repaired the damage by following up with a birdie.
Unfortunately for the Swede, he made another bogey on the final hole, and thus went around in three under par for the day, and is –5 overall going into the final round. Saturday's result meant that Norén climbed 13 places to a tied 20th place.
For the Stockholm native, it's extra important to get a good placement in Memphis. Only the top 50 on the Fedex Cup ranking after the weekend will play next week's playoff tournament in Castle Rock, Colorado. From there, the top 30 will advance to the tour final on East Lake in Atlanta, Georgia. Going into this week, Norén was in 42nd place.
Åberg shot par
World number four Ludvig Åberg – sixth on the ranking going in – didn't make a single birdie putt on his first ten holes (also starting on hole 10). On the other hand, he didn't make any bogeys either, with ten straight pars.
Then came the day's first bogey – but the 24-year-old followed it up by making an eagle on hole number three. Then came another bogey for Åberg, who went around in par for the day. He remains at –1 going into the final day and is in a tied 45th place.
Japan's Hideki Matsuyama leads on –17, five strokes ahead of Nick Dunlap from the USA.