Scottie Scheffler has work to do to secure an unprecedented second straight FedEx Cup title. More precisely, he needs better work.
The world No. 1 and defending champion rebounded from a dyspeptic start to shoot a four-under 66 in the third round of the Tour Championship. Scheffler bogeyed his first two holes and didn’t convert on a few good birdie looks—prompting him to slam his putter to the ground at one point—but still managed to keep himself in range for his sixth win of the year and the season-long title.
The talented Texan completed 54 holes in 12-under 198, four shots behind leaders Patrick Cantlay and Tommy Fleetwood. He is alone in fifth place with Russell Henley at 196 and Keegan Bradley at 197 also ahead of him.
“Felt like another frustrating day,” said the reigning PGA and The Open champion this year. “I felt like I did some things well out there. I was just a little bit off on my reads most of the day. I hit some good putts that just didn’t fall. After the start, I did a good job bouncing back and getting back into it. Overall I didn’t shoot myself out of the tournament, which making bogeys around this place can very easily do that.
“Proud of the turnaround, but man, I wish I could have gotten a little bit more out of the round.”
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Scheffler has putted well most of the year, but he lost 2.575 strokes on the greens in the third round, second-worst in the 30-man field. Meanwhile, he was his usual solid self off the tee and around the greens, ranking first in each category. He ranked sixth in approach.
“[If] I par the first two holes instead of bogey them and I hole a couple putts, I would have had a pretty special round today if that was the case because I still shot four-under without really holing anything and getting off to a bad start,” he reasoned. “Without that, I did some good stuff out there. Just got to continue to do that and hole a few more putts.”
At the start of the week, Scheffler, to his credit, said that he wasn’t a fan of the starting-strokes format that enabled him to begin the tournament with a two-stroke lead over his next nearest competitor by virtue of his lead in the FedEx Cup points standings. This year, all 30 players started at even par like every other tournament.
“I guess no more sandbagging for me at the end of the year,” he said with a laugh on the eve of the tournament.
He was adamant that he wanted to go out and win it on his own steam this time. He’ll need a bit of it on the final day. Good thing he has some experience with that, including just last week.
