CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Scottie Scheffler was on the driving range Saturday evening as the sun was setting on Quail Hollow.
Maybe it was just to rub it in.
If he wasn’t satisfied with the way he hit the ball during the third round of the PGA Championship, well, it’s hard to say what was truly bothering him.
Scheffler played the last five holes in 5 under par—including a near kick-in eagle on the par-4 14th hole—to turn a tight, seven- or eight-player race into one that he now controls.
The two-time major winner and reigning PGA Tour player of the year shot a third-round 65 on a storm-delayed day to open up a three-shot lead over Alex Noren and a four-shot advantage over Davis Riley and J.T. Poston. Two-time major champion Jon Rahm is among three players tied for fifth, five back. Bryson DeChambeau is six strokes back after playing the last three holes in 3 over par.
“I executed really well,” Scheffler said. “Pretty much after hole 11 I feel like I hit a lot of really good shots. [On] 13 I got a weird wind gust and then hit a poor bunker shot, but outside of that, I felt like I executed really well on the back nine and hit the shots that I was trying to hit and was able to get some results from those.
“Birdieing the last two was definitely two extra shots. I mean, I would assume those holes are playing over par, and so I definitely stole a couple shots there, and it was nice momentum towards the end of the round.”
Scheffler, who two weeks ago won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson by eight shots, is on his game again. The No. 1 player in the Official World Ranking got off to a slow start this year due to a freak Christmas Day hand injury that required surgery and delayed the start of his season until February.
But he has top-10 finishes in each of his last four starts, including a fourth at the Masters, and took command Saturday over the difficult closing stretch.
After his eagle at the 14th, Scheffler birdied the par-5 15th, parred the 16th then birdied each of the last two holes. The 17th was playing as the hardest on the course while the 18th was fifth most difficult.
At age 28, Scheffler now is in excellent position to claim a third major title.
“It would mean a lot,” he said. “These tournaments are very important to us, and you work your whole life to have a chance to win major tournaments, any tournament for that matter, and tomorrow I have a good opportunity to go out there and try and win the golf tournament.
“But it's going to take another really good round. There's a lot of great players chasing me on the leaderboard and someone is going to put up a great round and it's up to me to go out there and have another really good round and finish off the tournament. Looking forward to the challenge.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Scottie Scheffler Seizes Control of PGA Championship After Blitzing Quail Hollow’s Green Mile on Saturday.