Padraig Harrington (62) moves into first place with Charles Schwab

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Ireland’s Padraig Harrington leads the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix by five strokes on Saturday with a 9-under par 62.

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Harrington started with an eagle and carded seven birdies without a bogey to sit 21-under 192 and pass New Zealand’s Stephen Alker.

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“Well, Padraig kicked my ass today. That’s basically what happened,” Alker said.

Harrington’s 54-hole score was the lowest in tournament history, and his 62 was his lowest score on the Champions Tour.

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“Look, today was a good day,” Harrington said. “I think I’ve been playing solid all along and I’m just waiting for a good day like today. Coming to you. But I said earlier in the week that you wanted a 72-hole tournament, so I want to say that you have to be very careful about what you want.

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Harrington’s 54-hole score is also the lowest of any player on the senior circuit this season.

Still, Harrington said he didn’t take anything for granted in Sunday’s final round.

“I’ve always been a better chaser than a leader,” Harrington said. “Let’s go tomorrow and see what happens. needs to dig deeper and win in a different way.”

Alker is his frontrunner at 16-under, five shots behind. He put out a clean card, but he only had three birdies.

“(Harrington) had a good round. He pulled away on the back nine,” Alker said. “I was just trying to make some birdies. I haven’t been given a lot of chances in the last few days, so the front nine wants to get some birdies early on, so it didn’t work out.” is there in I have a lot of work to do right now to win the tournament, but yeah, sleep well and you’ll be fine. “

Brian Gay is alone at 15-under for third, six shots off 66. Germany’s Alex Cheika (63) is 14-under 4th, and South Africa’s Retief Goosen (68) is 8 shots behind in 5th.