Bubba Watson leads the Deutsche Bank Championship after three rounds at 11-under par. (AP)

NORTON — There were three players tied for the lead at 10-under entering the third round at the Deutsche Bank Championship, but none of them could distance themselves from the field, which has created a packed top of the leaderboard after Sunday’s third round.

Bubba Watson was one of those players who entered the day at 10-under, and was the only player out of the three to shoot under par on Saturday. He shot a 1-under 70 and leads the tournament at 11-under. Five players trail Watson by one stroke, and then another five trail by two.

Charl Schwartzel and Adam Scott were the other two players to share the lead after the second round. Scott shot an even-par 71 while Schwartzel shot a 1-over 72.

“It’s always nice to be in the final group because then you know what everybody is doing,” Watson said. “You know what you’ve got to do. If you play slow enough, you’ll be two strokes back so then you know what you have to do. It’s a good position to be in. That’s where you want to be. Every week that’s what we try to do is get in the final group because that means you have a great chance on Sunday.”

The players who are one stroke behind Watson include Scott, who won the event in 2003, Jason Day, who finished second last year, Chez Revie, Brendan Steele and Jerry Kelly.

“I played pretty solid today,” Scott said. “I made some good saves on the front nine today and then the well kind of dried up on the back. I just couldn’t quite get the ball close enough. It was tricky and I didn’t want to risk too much. I put myself in the hunt. Hopefully I get them tomorrow.”

Five players trail Watson by two strokes and should not be counted out for Monday’s final round. Jim Furyk, Gary Woodland, Webb Simpson, Luke Donald and Schwartzel are the players in that group.

Phil Mickelson went out very early Sunday morning and fired an 8-under 63 to tie for the low round of the tournament. The round moved him to 7-under overall for the tournament, and be is now only four strokes off the lead.  He had six birdies and an eagle on the par-4 12th hole. Mickelson used a 7-iron to hole out from the rough.

“Obviously it was a lucky shot,” he said. “But I was able to — I was just trying to get it to the middle of the green, and with the stance I had it was going to hook quite a bit. It hooked a little bit more, and it went in. I mean, that was fun to see.”

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