Scottie Scheffler made a significant move up the Charles Schwab Challenge leaderboard Saturday, firing a 6-under 64 that featured seven birdies and an eagle.
The world No. 1, who barely made the cut Friday, now sits T-7 and six shots behind co-leaders Matti Schmid and Ben Griffin, who both posted 68s.
“You are always going to hope to go play a perfect round,” Scheffler said. “It basically never happens. I mean, three bogeys definitely hurts, especially when you are trying to chase, but overall I did some good things today. I’m definitely going to need to do more of the same tomorrow.”
Scheffler’s charge was slowed by three back-nine bogeys, including one at the closing hole. He’s attempting to win his third consecutive start on Tour, something not accomplished since Dustin Johnson did it in 2017.
After squeaking into the weekend with a 1-over 71 Friday, Scheffler came out firing in the third round. He made four birdies on his front nine, then started his back nine with a birdie-eagle combination. The eagle at the par-5 11th was particularly impressive – he bombed a 334-yard drive, then hit his second shot from 303 yards to just 14 feet before converting the putt.
“I got off to a really good start. Kind of a dream start when you are looking at pretty far back on Saturday. So, yeah, got off to the start that I definitely wanted to. Was in a great position after 11 holes,” he said. “The golf course just gets challenging towards the end.”
That challenge showed up immediately with back-to-back bogeys. At the par-4 12th, his tee shot found a fairway bunker, and his escape hit the lip and traveled only 35 yards. Then at the par-3 13th, he found another bunker off the tee and missed a 5-footer for par.
Scheffler’s putting showed improvement from Friday’s round, when he lost 2.5 strokes to the field and made less than 36 feet of putts total. While still negative in strokes gained: putting Saturday, he made nearly twice the length of putts, including a 9-footer for birdie at 16 and an 11-footer at 17.
A poor drive and missed 6-foot putt at 18 led to his third bogey of the back nine.
“Today I had to go out there and make a bunch of birdies, which I was able to do early in the round,” he said. “I struggled a touch on the back nine, but overall I put up a decent score.”
Scheffler’s recent form has been remarkable. He won the PGA Championship last week and claimed the CJ Cup Byron Nelson earlier this season. He’s now trying to become the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1946 to win both the Nelson and Colonial in the same year – a special achievement in his home state of Texas.
