Scottie Scheffler storms back at Colonial and chases Texas history

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Any pro golfer with deep Texas ties would like to have his name included in the same sentence as the great Ben Hogan, and Scottie Scheffler on Saturday gave himself that opportunity—fittingly, at Fort Worth’s Colonial Country Club.

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Two days after opening the Charles Schwab Challenge with an eagle and a day after he fought to make the weekend, Scheffler stormed back into outside contention with a six-under-par 64 that put the World No. 1 six shots back of leaders Ben Griffin and Matt Schmid.

The margin is a lot to overcome, but few would discount Scheffler’s ability to pull it off in the week after he captured his third major at the PGA Championship. And if the Dallas resident and former University of Texas star does make it happen, he’d join Hogan as the only players to win in the same season both the PGA Tour event named for another Texas legend, Byron Nelson, and the 79-year-old event at Colonial. Scheffler blew the field away by eight shots in winning the Nelson ahead of the PGA.

What has to fuel hope for Scheffler, who is trying to become the first player since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win three straight starts, is that he was on a short-lived 59 watch in the third round. He birdied five of the first 10 holes, and then an eagle on the 11th put him at seven under with seven holes to play. But Scheffler cooled off by suffering bogeys at the 12th and 13th. He wasn’t done though with birdies, making them at 16 and 17, only to miss a six-foot par putt at the last.

“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.”

Among the key shots in Scheffler’s round was a jaw-dropping escape at the seventh. He badly hooked his drive down into a ditch overgrown with long grass and weeds, but had an opening through the trees. “There was kind of a bush behind my ball and on the side of my ball, so I felt like it was actually safest to go to the green.” Scheffler later explained. “The penalty for not pulling it off wasn’t too bad, so just figured I would trying something.”

With a big lash he flew the ball 141 yards onto the green and two-putted for par.

That hole alone is proof to never count Scheffler out.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com