JUSTIN Rose kept alive his hopes of defending his Quicken Loans National Title with a six-under-par third round of 65.

 This left him on 202 tied eighth and three shots before the joint leaders Troy Merritt and Kevin Campbell.

The north Hampshire golfer recorded seven birdies on Saturday at the Robert Trent Jones Golf club in Virginia.

He gained a shot on holes three, five, seven, 10, 13, 14 and 17, while suffering on bogey on the 15th.

This gave him his best round of the tournament so far with a 65 after an opening with a 66 which he followed up with a par score of 71.

He will now hope to retain his title this evening and is very much in the hunt.