Houston (AFP) – Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler made a closing birdie in near-darkness to seize an eight-stroke lead after Saturday’s third round of the PGA Tour’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson tournament. The 28-year-old from nearby Dallas birdied three of the first five holes and three of the last five holes to fire a five-under par 66 and stand on 23-under 190 after 54 holes at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas.
“It was good golf. I did a good job of getting it around,” Scheffler said. “I definitely wasn’t as sharp as I was the last two days but overall I posted a pretty good score and over a 72-hole tournament you’re going to have at least one day where your swing is not firing on all cylinders. It’s all about how you battle through that. Today I did a good job. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll swing a little better.”
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Thunderstorms Friday pushed the end of the second round to midday Saturday and left Scheffler and others in the last groups racing darkness to finish in the twilight gloom to avoid an early wake-up call Sunday. “We were going to come back pretty early in the morning,” Scheffler said. “Even if finishing 18 would have cost me a shot I think it would have saved me a shot tomorrow based on energy and not having to come out here early and wait five hours or so to tee off. Once they gave us the go-ahead to finish I was definitely very anxious to finish.”
On the par-five 18th hole, Scheffler blasted his second shot 221 yards into darkness, unable to track it landing 31 feet from the hole. He putted it within inches of the hole and tapped in for his seventh birdie. “I couldn’t see very well but I finished in the dark many times growing up so that wasn’t that big of a deal,” Scheffler said. “The most challenging part I would say was reading a green in the dark.”
Scheffler said he wondered how they would finish when they reached the third tee and two groups were waiting ahead of them. “Once we were on the back nine, I felt we were going to finish,” said Scheffler. “I’m kind of an optimist when it comes to stuff like that. I knew they were going to do everything they could to get us around.”
Scheffler has converted eight of 14 54-hole PGA Tour leads into titles, including in his past four chances, most recently at last year’s Tour Championship.
– Biggest lead since Rory –
Scheffler, who won nine times last year but has not taken a title this year, is the first player to lead a PGA Tour event by at least eight strokes after 54 holes since Rory McIlroy did so on his way to winning his first major title at the 2011 US Open at Congressional Country Club near Washington. He could also become the first area high school player since 2007 to win the event.
Once players completed the second round early Saturday, round three began with a six-stroke lead for Scheffler after his best career 36-hole PGA start from rounds of 61 and 63. Scheffler sank a five-foot birdie putt at the second hole and a 28-foot birdie putt at the par-four third to reach 20-under and lead by seven. But Scheffler suffered his first bogey of the week at the par-three fourth, missing the green and a par putt from just inside seven feet.
Scheffler responded by reaching the green in two to set up tap-in birdies at the par-five fifth and par-five ninth holes, reaching the turn at 21-under and ahead by six. Scheffler made his second bogey at the par-four 11th when his approach landed in a bunker and he two-putted from 21 feet. But he responded with back-to-back birdies at 14 and the par-three 15th. At the 319-yard 14th, he drove the green and tapped in for birdie. At 15, he landed his tee shot within four feet of the hole and tapped in.
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