Schauffele comes from 4 back to seize the lead at The Players
Xander Schauffele erased a four-shot deficit Saturday with another bogey-free round on a course where trouble is around every corner, capping off a 7-under 65 with a superb chip to save par and take a one-shot lead into the final round of The Players Championship.
U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who had a four-shot lead at the start and stretched it to five with a birdie on the opening hole, did well to make sure the deficit wasn’t greater.
They were tied going to the island green on the par-3 17th. Clark hit it so clunky that his wedge shot came up some 15 yards short of land. But he hit the next one to 7 feet and escaped with bogey, and then saved par on the 18th for a 70.
For a short time on a balmy afternoon, it looked like The Players could turn into a two-man race between Clark and Schauffele. But there were enough birdies, enough bold shots and big rallies, to suddenly make Sunday filled with possibilities.
Schauffele was at 17-under 199.
British Open champion Brian Harman was slowed briefly by a bogey on the par-5 ninth that required him attempting a righthanded shot, and then the little lefty birdied four of his next five holes and finished with a 64. He was two shots behind.
Maverick Mcnealy and former U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick each had a 68 and were four shots behind, each with a share of brilliance and blunders.
Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world coping with a neck pain this week, kept alive his chances of becoming the first backto-back winner in 50 years of the PGA Tour’s premier championship. He birdied his last three holes for his 26th straight round under par this year, a 68, that left him in range at five shots behind. He was joined by Sahith Theegala (67).