McIlroy ties with Horschel for lead in Tour Championship

ATLANTA - Already established as the best player in golf, Rory McIlroy approached the FedEx Cup finale as though he had nothing to lose.

Except now he has so much to gain.

McIlroy was plodding along Saturday in the Tour Championship, frustrated by a pair of three-putt bogeys and a round that "wasn't much to look at out there" when his prospects changed quickly. He fired a 5-iron from 209 yards up the hill to 25 feet on the par-5 15th and holed it for eagle to tie Billy Horschel for the lead. McIlroy finished with a chip out of thick grass behind the 18th green to save par for a 3-under 67.

Horschel made two bogeys on the back nine and had to settle for a 69, still his 11th straight round in the 60s during the FedEx Cup, and still in great position to leave Atlanta with the biggest Sunday payoff in golf.

They were at 9-under 201. And they had plenty of company in what was shaping up as perhaps the most enticing finish in the eight-year history of the FedEx Cup.

Jim Furyk, winless since he captured the FedEx Cup four years ago, had a 67 and was 2 shots behind. He would have to win the Tour Championship to have any chance of joining Tiger Woods as the only multiple winners of the FedEx Cup.

Another shot behind were Rickie Fowler (67), Justin Rose (66), and Jason Day (70).

The top five seeds at the Tour Championship - Horschel is No. 2, McIlroy is No. 4 - only have to win the Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France - South Korean teenager Hyo-Joo Kim emerged from a third round riddled with errors by contenders to lead the Evian Championship by a stroke and in sight of her first major.

Kim hit four bogeys on the front nine before recovering for a 1-over 72. That she regained the lead was a legacy of her remarkable 61 on Thursday, the lowest score in major history, and her rivals also dropping on the leader board.