Riley shot a seven-under 63 to reach 15 under on Saturday (Sunday AEST) and take a one-shot lead at Detroit Golf Club, where the relatively easy course will give a lot of players on the tightly-packed leaderboard a chance to win the last Rocket Classic.
The 29-year-old closed with consecutive birdies, making a 54-foot putt at 17 and a 10-footer at 18 to pull into a first-place tie with Michael Brennan.
Brennan (64) had a strong round with seven birdies, but missed a nine-foot putt to bogey the last and lose a share of the lead.
Riley is aiming for his third career win and first since the 2024 — and to get into the post-season.
He has missed 10 cuts, including last week's 3M Open, and is No.146 in the FedEx Cup standings.
The Rocket Classic and next week's Wyndham Championship are the last two tournaments left before the top 70 advance to playoffs.
"There's been a lot of ups and downs," he said.
"I'm just excited that I've started to put the things together and have a chance."
Rasmus Hojgaard (61), Chris Kirk (66), Rickie Fowler (67) and Cameron Young (68) are three shots back, while Xander Schauffele (67) is in a group another stroke adrift.
Hojgaard became the third player in as many days to match the course record with a 61, giving him the lead before Brennan's birdies put him ahead.
World No.3 Young, playing for the first time since a second-placed finish at the British Open, matched the mark on the second day, but had a rough third round.
He missed 11-foot birdie putts at the first and third. His drive at the second went wide right, leading to another par.
Dane Hojgaard is vying for his first win on the PGA Tour after missing the cut in his last three starts and just making it to the weekend at three under.
Kirk was in a three-way playoff at last year's Rocket Classic before Aldrich Potgieter won it, while Fowler's sixth and last victory was the 2023 Rocket Classic.
The only Australian left in the field, Karl Vilps, shot a 68 to be nine off the pace at six under.
The PGA Tour is moving to a new model for 2028, effectively creating two tours and Rocket Mortgage decided not to exercise its option to host another tournament next year.
The Detroit-based company isn't interested in continuing to spend $15 million a year to be part of the second tier in the new era and didn't want to double the costs to be part of the elite tier.
With AAP.
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