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AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am – round three leaderboard

– 19 A Bhatia (US); -17 C Morikawa (US), J Knapp (US), S Straka (Aut); -16 J Bridgeman (US); -15 H Matsuyama (Jap); – 14 T Fleetwood (Eng), MW Lee (Aus), S Burns (US), M McNealy

Selected others: -13 X Schauffele (US), J Speith (US); -9 R McIlroy (NI), Justin Rose (Eng)

Akshay Bhatia holds a two-shot lead after the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am as fellow American Collin Morikawa’s round of 62 moved him into contention for his first victory in almost two and a half years.

Bhatia had been tied for top spot on 15 under with Ryo Hisatsune going into the day’s play, but six birdies in his first seven holes helped him on his way to a lead that was as many as five shots at one point.

Battling blustery conditions in California, a bogey at 17 saw his advantage cut to two.

Gusts then slowed play down considerably on the final green and a missed putt for birdie saw Bhatia card 68 to stand at 19 under.

Morikawa’s round, 10-under-par, saw him climb the leaderboard into second at 17 under.

An eagle at the last hole – having managed the same at the first – moved another American, Jake Knapp, into joint-second with his round totalling 66.

Austrian Sepp Straka made it a three-way tie with a 67.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy, six back at the start of the day, fell further out of the running as an even par 72 left him trailing by 10.

“The fastest man in the UK this year and he’s not even going to the Olympics.”

That was the line belted out by the commentator as Joel Fearon stunned onlookers by running the 100m in under 10 seconds – breaking one of the most revered barriers in sport.

Frustratingly, the performance came just after the cut-off date to qualify him to represent Team GB at Rio 2016.

A decade on, the 37-year-old is at his third Winter Olympics, but his first for Jamaica’s bobsleigh team, who he came out of retirement for last year.

He remembers that day in 2016 as one that changed his life.

“I don’t know if I ever believed that I could do something like that,” he told BBC Local Radio.

“It was surreal for a long time because I wasn’t one of the British superstar sprinters.

“But there I was, running sub-10, number one in the country and I remember thinking anything can happen.”

Only four British men have ever run faster on UK soil than his time of 9.96 seconds to win the England Athletics Championships in Bedford that day.

Running fast was just one piece of the jigsaw for Coventry-born Fearon, as he was trying to make ends meet, juggling between work and bobsleigh training.

“I’ve done all sorts of jobs, at one point, I was a pizza delivery man,” he recalled.

Athletics was Fearon’s first sporting passion, but his bobsleigh career has been unique.

He has competed for Great Britain, Switzerland and Jamaica over a period of 15 years.

His bronze medal from the Sochi 2014 Olympics was only awarded five years later because of retrospective doping bans.

The sport was initially suggested to him by his coach, partly to help support his family.

“I was pretty broke and some trials came up,” Fearon explained.

“It was a tough transition, there is a lot of lifting, you are a mechanic and there are a lot of long hours and time spent out in freezing cold conditions.

Fearon initially came fifth in the four-man bobsleigh in Sochi, and with hindsight, he would not change the way it happened.

“We knew we were good enough. Knowing that we didn’t [medal] actually just kept me striving,” he said.

“I went straight to a relay camp. I didn’t soak it in, didn’t even enjoy it.

“If I would have got that medal, I probably wouldn’t have run sub-10. I wouldn’t have had the same drive.”

At the time Fearon received it, he was on a season-long loan to Switzerland’s bobsleigh team, with whom he won another bronze at the Europe Cup.

“They bought me, actually. They needed experienced athletes for one of their junior drivers, Timo Rohner,” he remembered.

Like many athletes, Fearon’s career has been affected by agonising injuries at key moments.

He has wires in his lower leg bones holding them together, following a serious one picked up while running for the British relay team.

“After that, I semi-retired from athletics, I still went and did a few things, but it wasn’t the same,” he said.

“It took a good two-year chunk out of my athletic career.”

But while that pain eased over time as he recovered, what hit his family next was hard to put into words.

In 2023, his sister Natasha Morais was murdered.

Feeling scared and suffering with insomnia, Fearon retired from all sport.

“It was tough for all of us. We are all still dealing with it in our own ways,” he said.

“I didn’t think I was ever going to be able to do sport again. I really struggled with anxiety.

“I was becoming afraid to leave my family alone.”

Coming out of retirement to represent Jamaica has given Fearon fresh focus and brought joy to a grieving family.

But he did not necessarily expect to be pushing a sled at another Winter Olympics.

“It was an athlete and coach role, I can do all the jobs across bobsleigh, even just organisational jobs,” said Fearon, who met rapper Snoop Dogg while training in Italy.

“But we ended up getting in the sled. I’ve done six races and won six races, so I’m a pretty good lucky charm.

“I think they’re going to have me pushing a few more times before I’m done,” he joked.

Fearon’s father is Jamaican, while his maternal grandparents are also from the Caribbean island.

“My dad was so proud. I’ve never seen him excited about sport before,” he added.

“I didn’t even know these guys a year ago and they’re all like my brothers, I get more excited about them racing than I do myself racing.

The crossover between Fearon’s two sports is a well-travelled path.

Fellow sprinter and bobsleigher Mica Moore is also part of Jamaica’s squad in Milan-Cortina, having previously switched allegiance from Great Britain.

Four years ago, Montell Douglas became GB’s first female summer and Winter Olympian, while this year, track and field internationals Adele Nicoll and Ashleigh Nelson are in their squad.

They all have explosive power and speed over the initial acceleration phase where pushing the sled effectively is so vital.

But perhaps the crossover that Fearon is most excited about is the association with the 1993 hit film Cool Runnings about the Jamaican bobsleigh team.

“I love it, because I watched it when I was 10,” he recalled.

“I had no idea I was ever going to have anything to do with bobsleigh at that point, never mind Jamaican bobsleigh.

“I’ve gone from being an Olympic medallist and part of this team, which is great, but now I’m a Disney character. Now I’m in a movie, it’s different.