Scotty Sheffler is close to winning his first Players Championship.
The five-time PGA Tour winner leads with a 14-low score after 54 holes on TPC Sawgrass. Scheffler fired in the third round, 4-66, including birds number 16 and 18, giving him a two-hit lead over Min Woo Lee before the final round.
“I feel very comfortable,” said Scheffler after Saturday’s tour, who could return to world number one after winning The Players. “I have put in a lot of hard work over the years and it has been a blessing to see so many results. It was very funny. I hope this will continue into the future.”
Maybe Scheffler is feeling confident going into the final round because this isn’t his first 54-hole rodeo on the Tour. Prior to The Players this year, the 26-year-old Texan slept six leads or co-leads on Day 3 but only converted them into wins twice.
Let’s go back to this half a dozen times.
Full The Players Championship points
2020 American Express: In Scheffler’s first season at the Tour on Saturday night, he proved to be equal to the leader. However, Scheffler failed the first six holes with three scarecrows. Andrew Landry, despite dropping a six-stroke lead on Sunday, held onto the win. Meanwhile, Abe Unser matched the course record with a score of 63, so Scheffler finished third solo with a score of 70 in the final round.
2021 Houston Open: Months after helping Team USA in a historic Ryder Cup beating at Whistling Straits, it looked like the former Texan Longhorn was set to take his first Tour win as he led by one after three rounds at Memorial Park. But the final round 1-to-69 wouldn’t be enough. Jason Kokrak closed the score with 65, and Scheffler put T-2.
Masters of 2022: It didn’t take long for Scheffler to show Houston in the rearview mirror. He took his first win at the WM Phoenix Open in February and went on to win two more times in 42 days, moving up to world number one. Then, at the Masters, he took a three-punch lead on 54 holes despite a thrilling ghostly finish. on Saturday.
He “cried like a baby” before the final round, wondering if he was ready to be a major champion, and he was. Scheffler’s 71 final round was enough for Hideki Matsuyama to put Scheffler’s green jacket around his shoulders on Sunday night at the Augusta National.
Charles Schwab Challenge 2022: A week after missing out on the PGA Championship, Scheffler looks to have regained his dominance, taking a two-stroke lead three days later. But on Sunday, after his 71st shot, he ended up in the playoffs with his best friend Sam Burns. Burns then completed the comeback with seven hits, hitting a 38-footer for the win.
Tour Championship 2022: Scheffler started his Sunday hitting four of six holes to complete a storm-delayed third round of 66 and build a six-shot lead. However, after a few hours, everything went very differently.
Scheffler made just one birdie in the final 3 of 73. Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy rallied with 66 to clinch the FedExCup Tour’s season title.
“I just couldn’t get off to a good start early, but after that I was grinding as hard as I could,” Scheffler said. “For some reason, my stroke was not what it was in the first few days of this week. ”
2023 WM Phoenix Open: Exactly one year after taking his first win, Scheffler secured a two-stroke lead after Day 3 and went into the final round with a final 65 for a two-stroke victory over Nick Taylor. It was his first win since the Masters and he regained the world number one spot by successfully defending his title.
Scheffler could oust John Rahm for world number one if he maintains his lead on Sunday. But more than anything, he just wants to leave the main event of the Tour with his sixth win.
“I would rather win the tournament than go back to number one in the world,” Scheffler said after his third round at TPC Sawgrass. “So my focus for tomorrow is just to go out and have a solid round.”
Source: www.golfchannel.com
