CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One swing was what Scotty Schaeffler needed to send Quail Hollow to Delyllium on Saturday to temporarily rattle Bryson Deccanbo and give this PGA Championship star power that was lacking.
Schaeffler stood at 14 tees, 304 yards from the hole. I thought his drive might be a bit shorter as it plunges from left to left against his fade of choice. It was almost perfect, the ball climbed into the green and settled three feet away.
Eagle put him on the leaderboard and was nothing more than a five-under clinic in the final five holes. Schaeffler won the Masters twice before sending him to a 6-under 65 and a three-shot lead as he was closed in the third major championship.
“We ran the shot,” Schaeffler said. “Did I do that thinking about whether to hit it two feet or not? I mean, you need a bit of luck when you’re 300 yards.
He did it a lot in his final time, making so many candidates feel helpless against the world’s first player.
John Rahm ran on three straight birdies. DeChambeau took a short lead until the tee shot on the PAR-3 found water on the 17th day. He was trying to save a bogie putt from 25 feet away. The 14th greenery brought him backwards the loudest cheers from across the lake.
Of course, Scheffler.
The world’s No. 1 player has changed his three-shot deficit to Alex Noren (66)’s three-shot lead.
Rahm was one of these five shots. Deccanbo had returned six times. They thought they would approach until Schaeffler wasn’t happy about taking the lead. He wanted the right finish and delivered it with two birdies each packed with a bit more emotion.
It ended with eight irons from Divot’s seam to 10 feet for birdie on the 18th, and Schaeffler said, “f —Yeah, baby!”
“I don’t usually show much emotion. I don’t know how much I’ve shown there. I don’t think about what I’m doing,” Schaeffler said. “I felt like I had two really good shots there…and I just managed to take advantage of the opportunity.
“No matter where the emotions came from, it felt like an important part of the round to get the round to finish it the right way.”
It was the first time Schaeffler has gone under five years of age on a major round five-hole stretch.
Deccanbo, the US Open Champion, a major force in golf’s biggest event, took a brief lead with a birdie on the par 5 15th, but it was later unraveled. He was three people behind when he finished, six people behind when Schaeffler finished his stunning performance.
The third round was delayed by morning storms, forcing a change in tee time from three tees from both tees that did not begin by noon. And it became a music chair game for leads. The nine players had at least a share of the lead at some point.
One of them is Rahm, a two-time major champion and former No. 1, and has not been seriously competing in the four majors he has played since joining Liv Golf.
“It’s hard to express how hungry I am. “I’m so happy to be in this position.”
He finished almost two hours before Schaeffler and thought it would be at least one shot to enter the final round. “This golf course is tricky and one shot is nothing on 18 holes,” Rahm said. He is currently facing a five-shot deficit, but he is armed with increased confidence in his game.
Schaeffler, surprisingly, recorded his first major round low score at his 65.
That was what started on the 14th at 3 Wood. The up and down for a par 5 birdie on the 15th day gave him the first lead in the championship. His best shot was his only par in that stretch, from a few hills to a backpin with a nasty wind direction with seven irons.
He missed a 12-foot birdie putt. However, Schaeffler then made an 18-foot birdie putt for one of six birdies that day on the 17th, finishing it with the seventh birdie of the day.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy and defending PGA champion Xander Schauffele had a long day. It had nothing to do with posting 72 each. They are supposed to tee off at 8:25am and will finish in time for lunch.
With changes to three tees from both tees, they didn’t start until 1:38pm and were on the other side of the Quail Hollow as all the actions were closing stretches.
Davis Riley has been rounding up the game since fighting two-way mistakes at the beginning of the year, making three straight birdies on the 67 scoreable 14th hole and 15th hole, and two more straight birdies.
Rahm was tied to fifth place with Si Woo Kim and Jhonattan Vegas, who took a two-shot lead after 18 holes and 36 holes and got a two-shot lead with two straight bogeys. However, he stabilized himself, running to the water on the 15th for a bogey on the 15th, and 73 was in the mix with three putts on the 18th.
This report uses information from the Associated Press.
