AVONDALE, La. – Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer shared the lead with Scott Stallings and Trey Mullinax as the Zurich Classic finally got back on schedule.

Rahm and Palmer played 30 holes Saturday in the event delayed by rain for more than seven hours Thursday, finishing off a 7-under 65 in the alternate-shot second round and shooting 64 in best-ball play in the third.

''It's been 4:30 four nights in a row,'' Palmer said. ''Dinners at 9 and back up at 4:30. Took its toll on me. Just feeding me sugar and food trying to keep my energy up. Tomorrow we'll be on a lot of rest. If we're on tomorrow in alternate shot, we're going to be hard to beat.''

Rahm carried the team in the third round, with the Spaniard making eight birdies.

''He's just fun to be around,'' Palmer said. ''He's actually a great guy. I've enjoyed every second with him. When you're up close and personal and watching it and see the shots he can hit around the green, you know, his short game is phenomenal. You can learn something from that, too, so I learned a lot. Honor to be a part of it.''

Palmer saved bogey with an 8-footer on the par-3 17th after both players hit into the water, and Rahm made a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th to match Stallings and Mullinax at 23-under 193.

''That putt Ryan made was probably the most important shot we made so far in the tournament,'' Rahm said. ''Felt like a birdie, and then to keep tied for the lead, very important.''

Stallings and Mullinax played 27 holes, shooting 70-62.

''We play a lot of practice rounds together,'' Stallings said. ''We've known each other for a few years. Just kind of we played so much together it just kind of made sense. We know each other's games pretty well.''

Mullinax looked ahead to the final round.

''I really enjoy alternate shot,'' Mullinax said. ''Scott hits the ball great. Hitting it nice. We're both putting well. I don't feel like there is much pressure on us. Just go out and do our thing.''

Brandan Grace and Justin Harding were a stroke back. The South Africans played 32 holes, shooting 68-61.

''I think we played 50 odd holes,'' Harding joked. ''We certainly moved up the board. It's just a matter of continuing the momentum throughout the rounds.''

Peter Malnati and Billy Hurley III were 20 under. They shot 66 after finishing the second round Friday.

Sergio Garcia and Tommy Fleetwood were another stroke back with the teams of Joel Dahmen-Brandon Harkins, Austin Cook-Andrew Landry, Hank Lebioda-Curtis Luck, Russell Henley-Ryan Blaum and Russell Knox-Brian Stuard. Brothers Brooks and Chase Koepka topped the group at 18 under along with Henrik Stenson and Graeme McDowell.

AVONDALE, La. – Graeme McDowell understands where Edoardo Molinari is coming from.

Molinari took to Twitter to vent about slow play after playing a five-and-a-half-hour round Saturday at the European Tour’s Trophee Hassan II, saying, “It’s time that professional golf does something serious for slow play.” He then tweeted out a list of every player who has been timed, penalized and fined this season because of slow play in European Tour, WGC and major tournaments.

“I saw his tweet this morning when he came off the course, ‘We need to play faster, blah, blah, blah.’ I get it,” McDowell said Saturday at the Zurich Classic. “I hear where Edoardo is coming from, but he is, what shall we say, flogging a dead horse?

“It’s not a dead horse, but it’s pretty dead. What do you want to do? We can’t get around there much quicker. Is 20 minutes going to change his life? Listen, I like Edoardo, nice kid, but I think he’s just frustrated.”

McDowell pointed out that he feels like the pace-of-play policy on the European Tour is more stringent than the PGA Tour’s policy, though he said even that is “getting tougher and tougher.”

“Listen, golf courses are long, golf courses are hard, we’re playing for a lot of money, it’s a big business, it is what it is,” McDowell said. “There’s just no way to speed the game up really. You can try these small percentiles, but at the end of the day it’s very hard to get around a 7,600-yard golf course with tucked pins with a three-ball in less than 4:45, 5 hours. You can’t do it.”

As for Molinari sharing an in-house document with the world and in turn calling out his fellow players, McDowell doesn’t have a major issue with Molinari’s actions. McDowell is not on the list, which includes Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed along with three players – Louis Oosthuizen, Erik Van Rooyen and Adrian Otaegui – who each received $3,000 fines.

But the Northern Irishman did disclose that he’s received some bad times on the PGA Tour this season.

“It should be public, you know, name and shame,” McDowell said. “I’m willing to admit I’ve been timed five times so far this year, been put on the clock five times, which is halfway to my 10, which is halfway to a $25,000 fine. I’m aware, but you get in the wrong group on the wrong week and you’re gonna get timed. Henrik Stenson is on six times [according to the list]. Is Henrik a slow player? No, it’s just one of those things.

“I hear Edoardo. We all hear him. We all wish we could play a little faster to attract more people to the sport. We’re trying.”

AVONDALE, La. – Jon Rahm and his partner, Ryan Palmer, teamed up to card nine birdies in Saturday’s third round of the Zurich Classic.

For the pair, that not only meant an 8-under 64 that earned them a share of the 54-hole lead with Trey Mullinax and Scott Stallings at 23 under, but also nine “treats.”

A day earlier, Rahm’s caddie, Adam Hayes, brought a bag of Skittles with him onto the golf course and started giving them to Rahm and Palmer after every birdie. They made seven of them in a sweet 7-under 65 foursomes round.

“We figured we needed to get something going, so we had Skittles for birdies,” Palmer said, “so every birdie we made, [Hayes] pulled out [the bag] and fed each one of us one Skittle.”

I’m ready pal. Let’s go get it. What a blast. @Skittles for birdies. Let’s do it. https://t.co/ZFU20wy0iP

— Ryan Palmer (@RyanPalmerPGA) April 28, 2019

That tradition continued Saturday in four-balls, where Rahm played the role of candy man by accounting for all but one of the birdies. The final one came from 15 feet at the par-5 18^th hole, with Palmer looking at a 3-footer for birdie.

“Completely stealing Ryan's momentum,” Rahm quipped.

Added Palmer: “I get one chance to make birdie…”

Palmer, though, made arguably the most crucial putt of the round a hole earlier. Both players hit their tee balls in the water on the par-3 17^th, but Palmer was able to hit his third shot to 9 feet and make the bogey putt to avoid further damage.

“That putt Ryan made was probably the most important shot we made so far in the tournament,” Rahm said. “Felt like a birdie, and then to keep tied for the lead, very important.”

Instead of playing ahead of Sunday’s final pairing, Rahm and Palmer will go off last alongside Mullinax and Stallings. Tee time is at 12:42 p.m. local time. Bring the Skittles.

LOS ANGELES - Minjee Lee overcame a triple bogey Saturday to take the lead into the final round of the Hugel-Air Premia LA Open.

Lee shot a 4-under 67 to reach 11-under 202 at Wilshire Country Club. The 22-year-old Australian birdied the first two holes before dropping the three strokes on the par-4 third. She rallied with birdies on Nos. 5, 6, 10, 14 and 17 - all par 4s - for a one-stroke lead over Denmark's Nanna Koerstz Madsen.

''Sort of fought my way back to my score today,'' Lee said. ''After that (triple) I wasn't super nervous or anything. I just sort of tried to believe in myself and just go out there and make as many birdies as I can, try and hit as many good shots as I can.''

Ranked fourth in the world, Lee won the last of her four LPGA Tour titles in May in Michigan in the LPGA Volvik Championship. She tied for third last week in Hawaii for her third top-three finish of the season.

''Both of us, Nanna and I, we made a lot of birdies today,'' Lee said. ''I think we sort of fed off each other, which was really nice. Yeah, nice confidence for tomorrow.''

The 24-year-old Koerstz Madsen also shot 67.

''I'm glad to be done,'' Koerstz Madsen said. ''I got the putter going on the last couple holes, but it was a little bit shaky all day kind of.''

She's trying to become the first LPGA winner from Denmark

''Do the same thing as the last two days, three days,'' Koerstz Madsen said. ''Really just focus on my own game. If it's enough, that's good and I'm happy with whatever. I mean, I'm already happy with how I've been emotionally this week. Just going to enjoy tomorrow I think.''

Inbee Park was 7 under after a 68. The South Korean star has 19 LPGA victories - seven in majors - but is winless in more than year.

''It's extremely hard to stay patient on these greens,'' Park said. ''I really feel like I should be 15-under par easily by now. These greens are just so complicated, and you can't be aggressive or it's either you leave it a foot short or you're 5 feet by.''

Top-ranked Jin Young Ko and Morgan Pressel were 6 under. Ko had a 67. She's the only player with multiple victories this year, taking the Founders Cup in Phoenix and the major ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage.

Pressel shot 70. She won the last her two LPGA titles in 2008.

''It's just tough to be aggressive on a lot of these putts out here, even when you're uphill,'' Pressel said. ''You don't want to be left with a downhiller coming back, especially late in the day. Poa can get a little bit bumpy.''