China's economy likely picked up pace in first quarter: AFP survey

Paramount Skydance was on a charm offensive at CinemaCon this week, trying to convince theater owners that its megabucks deal to swallow Warner Bros. would be good for the industry.

A glitzy promotional film narrated by Tom Cruise ended with the world's most bankable movie star sitting atop the company's water tower, gazing over Hollywood.

"The future is Paramount, and the future looks pretty great from here," said Cruise.

The firm's chief executive David Ellison, attuned to fears that the $111 billion offer for a rival studio would result in cuts, bounded onto the stage at Caesars Palace to insist it would not crimp production.

"I came here today... to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word. Once we combine with Warner Brothers, we're going to make a minimum of 30 films annually," he told the audience, pledging 45-day theatrical windows before any film is available to stream.

"Long live the movies!"

The response from theater owners was lukewarm, and maybe for good reason: they've been here before.

"Disney said a lot of similar things when they were acquiring 20th Century Fox. They committed to maintaining the level of output," Matthew Hoopfer of Michigan-based cinema chain Studio C told AFP. 

"20th Century Fox was a major studio; they had 10, 12 movies a year. I think in the Disney showcase (this year) between 20th Century and Searchlight, there were five or six movies."

Cinema United, the umbrella group that organizes CinemaCon, has declared itself skeptical about the takeover.

"While recent pledges attempt to address the threats of consolidation to our industry, they are not yet sufficient in addressing our concerns," organization president Michael O'Leary told AFP.

"We remain open to tangible commitments that will ensure a vibrant global theatrical exhibition industry for years to come."

Cinema owners are not the only ones who are worried.

An open letter signed by thousands of Hollywood luminaries -- from acting heavyweights Jane Fonda and Joaquin Phoenix to directors J. J. Abrams and Denis Villeneuve -- opposed the consolidation and fretted it would mean "fewer jobs... higher costs, and less choice for audiences."

- Hail Mary -

For cinema owners, much depends on what happens with Warner Bros. and whether Paramount Skydance can keep its promise to maintain a steady stream of films.

A decade ago, annual spending at the North American box office frequently topped $11 billion. 

But the Covid-19 pandemic and the explosive growth of streaming put a hole in that, with yearly revenues drooping to less than $9 billion.

Signs are good, however, for 2026.

A strong first quarter, aided by crowd-pleasers like "Project Hail Mary" and "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie," has some industry-watchers predicting this year could be one of the best in a while.

In the halls of CinemaCon -- where optimism regarding the box office rebound was palpable -- theater owners said the only guaranteed balm was good content, and lots of it.

Chance Crusenberry, owner of a historical drive-in theater in Virginia, said the new uber studio would have to keep its pledge to pump out movies.

"If they want to be successful and they want us to be successful and the movie theaters to stay open, they have to follow through," he said.

The bidding war for Warner Bros., which industry watchers had long held to be flailing a little, ironically emerged as the studio was having a banner year.

"One Battle After Another" scooped up the Best Picture Oscar, beating out in-house rival "Sinners," with both films also scoring at the box office.

But recent successes are only part of the value proposition: the Warner Bros. library is deep, and includes money-spinners like "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings."

To get its hands on that library, Paramount Skydance had to fend off a rival bid from cash-rich Netflix, with reports suggesting it leaned heavily on financing.

A heavy debt load might muddy the waters, said Bryan Sieve, president of Odyssey Cinemas in South Dakota.

"It's going to be an awful big challenge to service that amount and still be able to maintain the capital requirements necessary to have such an aggressive 30-film slate," he told AFP.

While a vein of skepticism ran through many of the theater owners AFP spoke to in Las Vegas, they were united in one thing: if the merger goes ahead, they need it to succeed.

"We hope that they can do it," said Sieve.

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President Donald Trump said late Friday he planned to maintain a US blockade of Iranian ports if a peace deal with Tehran is not reached, adding that he may not extend the ceasefire after its expiration.

Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz on Friday in the wake of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon, though Tehran threatened to close the vital waterway once again if the US blockade continues.

A ceasefire between Tehran and Washington is due to expire on Wednesday. 

"Maybe I won't extend it, but the blockade is going to remain," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, when asked if the ceasefire will be extended.

Asked about a potential deal, Trump said, "I think it's going to happen."

Key differences remain between the demands from the United States and Iran, which earlier failed to reach agreement in talks in Pakistan.

Trump told reporters there were "not going to be tolls" imposed by Iran on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz -- something that the Islamic republic put forward during previous peace deal plans. 

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said China's President Xi Jinping was "very happy" about the global oil chokepoint reopening.

"Our meeting in China will be a special one and, potentially, Historic," Trump added, referring to a summit planned in Beijing in May.

Trump also insisted that Washington and Tehran would jointly transfer enriched uranium stored in Iran to the United States under the touted plan to end the war, which began on February 28.

Iran's foreign ministry earlier said its stockpile of uranium would not be transferred "anywhere."

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© Agence France-Presse

The Orlando Magic thrashed the Charlotte Hornets 121-90 to keep their season alive as the NBA playoffs' final teams were determined Friday.

Paolo Banchero top-scored with 25 points to set up a daunting first-round playoff series for the Magic against the Eastern Conference top-seeded Detroit Pistons. 

It was Orlando's last chance to qualify for the post-season via the play-in tournament, having failed at their first attempt against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday.

The Golden State Warriors take on the Phoenix Suns later Friday for the Western Conference's No. 8 seed, after which the full NBA playoff schedule will be finalized.

A physical, tough Magic outfit outmuscled the youthful Hornets from the tip-off of the win-or-go-home game in front of a sell-out 19,000 home crowd at Orlando's Kia Canter.

Banchero bulldozed Charlotte's defense, scoring 12 in the first quarter alone. 

Having never trailed by more than a single point, Orlando soon stretched comfortably clear, establishing a giant 35-point lead shortly before half-time.

Recovering from a sluggish start, LaMelo Bell -- the hero of the Hornets' first play-in game against Miami on Tuesday -- exploded after the break.

He poured in 21 points in the third quarter alone as he tried to single-handedly extend Charlotte's season. 

But Orlando's lead never dipped below 20 points, as the Magic eased to a win against a Charlotte side that had finished the regular season in strong form.

Victory ensured the Magic have reached the playoffs for the third straight season, while the Hornets' decade-long wait goes on.

The NBA playoffs begin Saturday.

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It's a bitter pill for video gamers: a growing number of older but still-popular titles are being dropped by publishers -- with servers going dark overnight -- in a practice the EU is being urged to outlaw.

More than a million people from across Europe have backed a citizens' petition called "Stop Destroying Videogames", and are now pressing for action in Brussels.

At the heart of the issue: in the past decade, hundreds of video titles have been rendered unplayable at the whim of their publishers, for a variety of reasons ranging from profitability to changes in strategy.

A significant part of popular culture is being wiped out in the process, with no compensation for gamers who in many cases have invested substantial sums, notably on microtransactions inside the playing environment.

The phenomenon has concerned older versions of hugely popular franchises such as the FIFA football simulation series.

But it was the shutdown of car-racing game The Crew that proved the final straw in 2024, prompting players to mobilise with a European petition.

"It's a bit like buying a book from a publisher and then suddenly opening it to find the pages have gone blank because they've decided you can't play your game anymore," Brendan Fourdan, organiser of the French chapter of the petition, told AFP.

- Lawmakers 'listening' -

Buoyed by the success of the citizens' initiative, gamers' rights campaigners have been lining up meetings to persuade the EU's different institutions to step in.

After meeting in February with the European Commission's digital chief Henna Virkkunen and consumer protection head Michael McGrath, they made their case to members of the European Parliament at a hearing on Thursday.

"MEPs were listening to our demands, and their interventions largely went in our direction, with lawmakers who understood the problem and seemed determined to put an end to what we are denouncing," Fourdan said.

Campaigners are calling for existing consumer protection rules to be enforced when it comes to gaming -- but also for EU legislation to be updated, a far bigger challenge.

"Our movement has no intention whatsoever of preventing publishers from stopping the sale of a game," Fourdan said.

"What we want is simply that when they shut down a game, they leave it in a state where it can still be played," for example on private servers run by volunteers.

Failing that, the idea is to require publishers to systematically refund players.

The issue is far from trivial: video games are Europe's largest cultural industry, generating billions of euros in revenue each year.

"It's an industry with a huge amount of revenue, with a lot of cultural and technological importance," said Moritz Katzner, head of the advocacy group Stop Killing Games.

"It most definitely should be on the radar of the European Commission and the European Parliament."

Green EU lawmaker Catarina Vieira says the issue is resonating among lawmakers.

"The desire is there for all political groups to come to a good solution for those who buy games and deserve to use them for a long term," she told AFP.

The European Commission, which has until the end of July to respond to the petition, has already warned solutions would not be easy to implement, due to intellectual property issues in particular.

Gaming companies, for their part, have rejected the solutions proposed by campaigners.

"Private servers are not always a viable alternative option for players," industry group Video Games Europe said in a statement.

It argues that without the protections publishers put in place to secure players' data, remove illegal content, and combat unsafe community content, such a system would "leave rights holders liable" for abuses.

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In a wooded area outside Virginia's state capital Richmond, the sounds of gunshots resonate. Collin is learning how to use a firearm.

The semi-automatic weapon in the 38-year-old's hand is the first he has ever owned. 

He is one of many left-leaning Americans who are embracing guns because of their fears about President Donald Trump's administration -- upending conventional wisdom about who owns firearms in the United States.

"I feel a lot more threatened by my government than the citizens around me," said Collin, who asked to be only identified by his first name for privacy concerns.

He said the deaths in Minneapolis of Renee Good and Alex Pretti -- both fatally shot by federal agents amid a sweeping immigration crackdown in the northern city -- had tipped the scales for him.

"We have government-empowered, essentially a private army, running around, assaulting and shooting people. That scares me a lot more than the fact that, yes, there is some person-to-person crime too," he told AFP.

The gun debate in the United States is fraught -- and very political.

Gun rights advocates -- who generally lean to the right -- frame the issue as one about personal freedom, as the US Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms. 

Liberals tend to emphasize more strict gun controls in a country plagued by mass shootings.

But several high-profile Democrats, including former lawmaker Gabby Giffords -- who nearly died when a gunman tried to assassinate her -- and former vice president Kamala Harris have proudly said they are gun owners.

After buying a weapon, Collin and his wife Danni signed up for a class given by certified handgun instructor Clara Elliott, who says her business "doubled" after Trump was elected to serve a second term in the White House in November 2024.

Since that time, her classes -- which are tailored to women, minorities and the LGBTQ community but open to everyone -- have largely been sold out.

"It's been incredibly busy," said Elliott, who sports a large tattoo on the inner side of her arm of Snow White...carrying a sub-machine gun.

- 'Be prepared' -

About a dozen people are taking Elliott's class, which first goes over the fundamentals of gun shooting and safety before progressing to the actual practice range. 

Most of the students have never even touched a firearm before.

Many say they became interested in the class because of the current political climate in America -- including immigration raids, the dismantling of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies and the mounting polarization of society as a whole. 

"There's a lot of things happening in the US that have been alarming," said 28-year-old Cassandra who, like everyone in the class, declined to share her last name. "So it seemed good to be aware and to be prepared."

Akemi, a 30-year-old Latina, said she feared "right-wing violence" and did not have faith that the police would protect her.

"As much as I can avoid interaction with the police, the better it is," said Akemi, who wore protective headphones as her classmates fired at targets drawn in the form of ice cubes -- a wink at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

- 'The whole spectrum' -

Elliott is not alone in seeing more business since the deadly shootings in Minneapolis.

The Liberal Gun Club -- a national organization which says its mission is to "provide a voice for gun-owning liberals and moderates" -- says it registered 3,000 new requests for firearms training in the first two months of 2026, more than in all of 2025.

Executive director Ed Gardner says such spikes are not rare after major political events or shocking acts of violence such as mass shootings.

But unlike in the past, when public interest came mainly from women and minorities, today's new members "cross the whole spectrum" -- young and old, rural and urban. 

For David Yamane, a professor of sociology at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, the shift comes in what is motivating people to buy guns.

"There is a specific concern about a kind of tyrannical, authoritarian government, possibly depriving people of their rights, or inspiring followers to deprive people of their rights," he said.

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In communist Cuba, where priests were once persecuted, churches are acting as a lifeline for the needy during a severe economic crisis aggravated by a crippling US oil blockade.

Dozens of people queue outside Santa Cruz de Jerusalen Catholic church in Havana twice a week for free medicine, which, like food and electricity, is in short supply on the island.

The crisis, which began six years ago during the Covid pandemic, has deepened since January, when the United States began piling pressure on its arch foe after overthrowing the leader of Cuba's closest ally, Venezuela.

To force Cuba's leadership to the negotiating table, President Donald Trump cut off oil exports to the island, pushing the already teetering economy to the brink of collapse.

Churches, which for the first three decades after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution were hounded by atheist authorities, are increasingly filling the vacuum left by a cash-strapped state.

Juana Emilia Zamora, a 71-year-old retiree who suffers from hypertension, came to Santa Cruz de Jerusalen because the state-run pharmacy is out of the drugs she needs. 

"The other way to get them would be from people who sell them (on the black market), but the prices are very high," Zamora, who survives on a monthly pension of 2,000 Cuban pesos (under $4), told AFP. 

The aid comes with no strings attached but before the donated medicine is handed over, Friar Luis Perna, one of the church's Franciscan priests, recites an "Our Father."

- Bare necessities -

When the church began the distributions in 2022, only one or two people came each week, Gretel Agrelo, a lay volunteer, recalled.

But in recent months, up to 300 people have begun seeking assistance, leaving the congregation struggling to meet demand.

Perna said that a growing number of Cubans were "deprived of the bare necessities of life."

Some leave crumpled, virtually worthless pesos in a donation box as a gesture of gratitude. 

- A line to Washington -

The Catholic Church had a fraught relationship with the state in the early years of communist rule.

In 1961, its schools and other social programs were confiscated by the State, eager to maintain control over the two main planks of the revolution: education and healthcare. 

The end of state atheism in the 1990s and a succession of economic crises gave the Catholic Church room to play a bigger role, both in social upliftment and as the Vatican's mediator in talks between Havana and Washington. 

It was to the church and its NGO Caritas that Washington turned to when seeking a non-state partner to distribute $9 million in humanitarian aid for the victims of Hurricane Melissa.

The hurricane struck eastern Cuba in October but the US aid is still slowly making its way to remote villages.

- Meat and beans - 

Protestant congregations have also stepped up their charitable operations in response to the crisis.

Three times a week, around 400 people -- up from 90 two years ago -- attend a service at Nazareth Baptist Church in Havana, after which lunch is served and those who need can see a doctor.

"Most are elderly people who live alone or come from very low-income families, but we also have single mothers and people with disabilities," pastor Karell Lescay, a 52-year-old pediatrician, told AFP.

The aroma of meat and black beans served with rice and coleslaw -- mostly donated by families living on the island -- fills the pews.

Keeping the soup kitchen running is "a huge challenge," said Lescay, pointing to prolonged power outages and "exorbitant" prices for food.

With supplies of subsidized rice, sugar, oil, bread and other basics dwindling, these meals are a lifeline for the diners.

"In these difficult times...the church is here, steadfast, strong, and helping," said 84-year-old Aleida Rodrigue.

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Pope Leo XIV arrives on Saturday in Angola, the third leg of a landmark African tour marked by a war of words with US President Donald Trump over the Middle East conflict.

Leo is set to become the third pontiff to visit the fossil fuel-rich country, where around 44 percent of the population identifies as Catholic, after John Paul II in 1992 and Benedict XVI in 2009.

Before his expected arrival at 1400 GMT in the capital Luanda, where billboards bearing his beaming likeness have been put up to welcome him, Leo will wrap up his three-day trip to Cameroon with an open-air Mass at Yaounde airport.

The first pope from the United States will then meet Angola's President Joao Lourenco and deliver a speech, the latest on a trip which has seen him sharpen his rhetoric after being targeted by Trump.

As in Cameroon, tens of thousands of worshippers are expected to flock to catch a glimpse of the head of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics before his departure on Tuesday morning.

"It's as if God were very close to us," 40-year-old human resources manager Helena Maria Miguel said of the pope's visit.

Leo's increasingly vigorous calls for world peace are likely to resonate in Angola, which emerged in 2002 from a 27-year civil war that erupted in the wake of independence from Portugal in 1975.

Throughout his 11-day four-nation Africa visit, the pope has delivered pointed warnings against corruption, the plunder of the continent's resources and the dangers of artificial intelligence, as his tussle with Trump drags on. 

Without mentioning his fellow American by name, Leo has in recent days abandoned his previous restraint to adopt a more forceful tone.

- 'Needs of the youth' -

After Trump's Catholic Vice President JD Vance urged the Vatican to "stick to matters of morality", Leo on Thursday said the world was "being ravaged by a handful of tyrants" and piled on more criticism of those who use religion to justify war.

During his stop in Cameroon, Leo demanded the country's leaders tackle corruption and condemned "those who, in the name of profit, continue to seize the African continent to exploit and plunder it".

Like his calls for peace, Leo's warnings against graft and exploitation are likely to strike a chord in Angola, where a third of the population live below the poverty line despite its vast fossil fuel reserves. 

The country's economy is heavily dependent on oil, leaving it exposed to price fluctuations, while rampant corruption has even spread to the family of former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

His visit comes after torrential downpours have left nearly 50 dead in the coastal Benguela region since early April.

And it comes less than a year after a deadly crackdown on protests over the high cost of living killed 30 people and saw hundreds arrested.

"There is a lot of suffering, a lot of poverty in Angola. I hope the pope will see with his own eyes the needs of the youth here," said Antonio Masaidi, a 33-year-old engineer.

- 'Moment of grace' -

On Sunday, Leo will celebrate a giant open-air Mass in Kilamba on Luanda's outskirts, where facilities including a large food court are being built to host tens of thousands of worshippers.

In the afternoon, the pope will travel by helicopter to the village of Muxima, about 130 kilometres southeast of Luanda, home to a 16th-century church overlooking the Kwanza River that has become one of southern Africa's most important pilgrimage sites.

A basilica is under construction in Muxima, where slaves were once baptised before being shipped out of Africa, as part of a multimillion-dollar government project to turn it into a major tourism destination.

"It is a historic moment of grace, a moment of profound emotion, with tears in our eyes and gratitude in our hearts," the rector of the shrine, Father Mpindi Lubanzadio Alberto, told the Catholic news site ACI Africa.

On April 20, the pope is due to travel more than 800 kilometres from the capital to visit a retirement home in Saurimo and celebrate another mass before departing the following morning.

Leo will then fly to Equatorial Guinea, the final stop of a whirlwind 18,000-kilometre journey that began in Algeria.

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Mizzou Baseball once again found itself in a hole that it were not able to dig out of. The Tigers dropped the series opener 9-6 with No. 14 Oklahoma after allowing four home runs Friday in Norman, Oklahoma.

Mizzou drops to 3-13 in the Southeastern conference and to 20-18 overall with the loss.

At the plate, freshman Blaize Ward and graduate Jase Woita had quite a night. After earning SEC Co-Freshman of the Week following Mizzou's last conference road series, the freshman got right back on track in Norman. Ward hit his first collegiate home run, a two-run shot, in the fifth inning. 

At the time, his homer cut the deficit to 5-3. The only run prior was a solo home run from Woita in the fourth. The 410-foot shot was Woita's eighth home run of the season. He added his ninth home run in the ninth inning, a two-run, 436-foot home run to push the game to the final score of 9-6. 

Missouri starter Josh McDevitt was responsible for the early deficit and was forced to weather the storm. He gave up four hits for four runs in the second. Another run crossed for the Sooners in the fourth off a solo home run, the first in the game for Oklahoma to make it 5-1.

McDevitt was able to put up a few more scoreless innings before the game was put out of reach. The Sooners plated another four runs in the seventh to push the game to a six-run deficit. 

"He settled in there and gave us a chance," Missouri coach Kerrick Jackson said to Mizzou Radio postgame. "The long ball got us today and we didn't capitalize on the offensive opportunities that we had, like (Oklahoma) did."

Oklahoma sailed a two-run home run and a solo home run off of McDevitt to push the Missouri starter out of the game after 6⅔ innings. He was replaced by reliever Dane Bjorn, who gave up another solo home run on the first pitch he threw.  

Mizzou failed to capitalize on a bases loaded opportunity in the eighth. A walk, double and hit-by-pitch put a Tiger at every station, but the Sooners stuck out a batter and earned a groundout to strand the runners. 

Nearly every Tiger got a hit in the game, with Ward, Woita and Kam Durnin recording multi-hit performances. Third baseman Keegan Knutson also hit a ninth-inning double and was brought home on an RBI single from Durnin.

The Tigers will face the Sooners again at 4 p.m. Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma for Game 2 of the series. Lefty Brady Kehlenbrink will have the ball to start for Mizzou. 

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — A community traffic advisory from the Great Falls Fire Rescue, announced traffic impacts in Great Falls on Saturday, April 18, for the funeral procession honoring Chief Karsten Hovland.

Emergency vehicles, semi-trucks, farm equipment and other apparatus will gather Saturday morning. Beginning around 8:00 a.m., vehicles will stage along Central Avenue in front of Croxford Funeral Home, occupying the northbound lane.

Following the funeral service, the procession will travel west on Central Avenue, south on 9th Street and west on 10th Avenue South before continuing toward Ulm.

The advisory urged people in the area to use caution. Additionally, drivers should watch for large vehicles and people on foot and expect traffic delays and temporary congestion.

If drivers encounter the procession,  they should yield to all vehicles in it. Drivers should not cut into or pass the procession unless on the interstate and should wait until the final vehicle had passed before resuming normal travel.

"We appreciate the community’s patience and respect as we honor Chief Hovland’s service and legacy," the Great Falls Fire Rescue said.

Former champion Matt Fitzpatrick fired a bogey-free eight-under-par 63 on Friday to surge to a one-stroke lead over Victor Hovland at the US PGA Tour RBC Heritage.

England's Fitzpatrick, who holidayed on Hilton Head Island as a youngster, conjured eight birdies at Harbour Town Golf Links, including runs of three in a row on each side, to build a 36-hole total of 14-under-par 128.

"Good play, good breaks, took advantage of them is probably the best way to describe it," Fitzpatrick said.

The good breaks included an unlikely birdie at the par-three 14th, where his tee shot hit a tree right of the green, skidded across the putting surface and came to rest on the fringe after threatening to roll into the water.

Fitzpatrick, the 2022 US Open champion, stepped up to roll in a 33-foot birdie putt.

"Didn't quite do what we anticipated," he said. "Felt like the shot I hit wasn't great but it wasn't that bad. It's obviously nice to get those breaks. You need those in golf. Nice to get the break and then nice to take advantage of it."

Fitzpatrick followed up with a 36-foot birdie putt at 15 to cap a trio of birdies that started with a four-footer at 13.

He had kickstarted his round with birdies at the fourth, fifth and sixth holes and added birdies at nine and 17.

Fitzpatrick won his third PGA Tour title, and his first since the 2023 RBC Heritage, at the Valspar Championship last month.

But he was particularly disappointed with his putting in a tie for 18th at the Masters last week and said he'd taken steps with coach Phil Kenyon to improve on the greens.

"We touched on a few things and just feel like it's given me a little bit more freedom, more than anything," said Fitzpatrick, who ranks third this week in strokes gained putting.

Norway's Hovland fired eight birdies with two bogeys in his six-under 66 for a 13-under total of 129.

"It was definitely a bit more eventful today than yesterday," Hovland said. "Today I was a bit more squirrelly, especially off the start, but got away with some great scores ... just kind of got away with some really poor tee shots."

It was a further three strokes back to American Harris English, who was alone in third on 132 after a three-under 68.

Overnight leader Ludvig Aberg had four birdies and three bogeys in his one-under 70 that left him tied for fourth on 133.

American Kurt Kitayama carded a six-under 65 to join a group of seven players on 134 and world number one Scottie Scheffler headlined a group sharing 14th on seven-under 135.

Scheffler, whose weekend surge at the Masters saw him come up one stroke short of repeat winner Rory McIlroy, had four birdies without a bogey in his four-under-par 67.

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