Mahan takes mid-round lead

Hunter Mahan tore up the leaderboard on day three of the Tour Championship in Atlanta, wrestling the lead from Australian Adam Scott.

The 29-year-old Californian was three under par for his first nine holes, leaving him one shot clear of overnight frontrunner Adam Scott.

Scott paid the price for dropping shots on the par-four third and fifth, with only a birdie on the fourth preventing him from being a further shot in arrears.

For his part, Mahan recovered from dropping a shot on the third to shave four off elsewhere, including an eagle three on the par-five ninth.

Mahan led the way on eight under, with Scott on seven and Aaron Baddeley and Geoff Ogilvy slightly further back on six.

It was not a good start to the day for world number one Luke Donald, though, who dropped two shots through his first eight holes to fall four shots off the pace, when a solid opening would have kept him in the thick of the action.

Unknown American Bo Van Pelt trimmed four shots off the par in his 16 holes so far in one of the more impressive rounds of the day, but Justin Rose was doing his best to avoid the bottom place on the leaderboard, going around in an even 70 to enter the clubhouse on four over.