Wyndham Clark looked to maintain his slender lead over Xander Schauffele as moving day got into full swing at the third round of the Players Championship at Sawgrass.
The US Open champion – who was four ahead of Olympic champion Schauffele and Canada’s Nick Taylor overnight at 14-under par – started his round by digging out of the rough to make a birdie.
However, Schauffele continued to chase him down, sinking a 14-foot birdie on the sixth to close within two shots which was down to just one stroke at the turn.
Clark, though, promptly picked up another birdie on the seventh, only to drop it straight back on the next and went into the turn one under for the day.
World number one Scottie Scheffler was playing through the pain barrier, having received treatment from a PGA Tour physio during his second round, and started Saturday with black tape on his neck.
Scheffler is bidding to become the first player to successfully defend the Players Championship title in its 50-year history and came to Sawgrass on the back of an impressive five-shot win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
A birdie at the par-five second was followed by a bogey at the fifth before Scheffler recovered another stroke on the next and headed into the turn at one under, missing a birdie chance from six feet.
Schauffele, though, kept the pressure on as he sunk his to move within one at 14 under overall.
Rory McIlroy’s bid for a second Players Championship victory had been dented by a second round of 73 to drop eight shots off the pace, having shared the first-round lead following an opening 65.
The Northern Irishman started Saturday’s round brightly, picking up a birdie on the second only to then drop a shot straight away on the par-three third.
Although he made successive birdies from the 11th, a double bogey at the 14th saw his hopes fade further after finishing the far greenside bunker.
Taylor, meanwhile, dropped down the leaderboard after a bogey on the fourth was followed by a six at the par-four sixth and another at the ninth to go into the turn at four over for the day.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick had started the day in a tie for third. He made a good start, picking up a birdie from two feet on the first hole but then suffered a double bogey on the fourth and dropped another stroke at both the sixth and ninth.
Open champion Brian Harman was enjoying a solid round to move into contention, having built on being two under through the first four holes.
Harman found the trees at the par-five ninth, which resulted in him making a six, but he then picked up successive birdies to sit at five under for the day through 11 holes.
Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg climbed up the leaderboard after a five-under 67, which could have been lower but for a bogey on the first and last holes, while Doug Ghim was also in the clubhouse at nine under after his 66.
Americans Sam Burns and Adam Schenk had been among the biggest movers of the early starters to both sit at eight under.
Burns – who just survived the cut – carded a seven-under-par 65, which saw him land a 38-foot birdie putt on the 17th, while Schenk hit a 66, including an eagle on the 16th.
Rickie Fowler finished at four over after a round of 76 saw him drop down the leaderboard – the American having shouted at a fan on the 16th tee for apparently disturbing his swing with noise of their camera clicking.
A closer look at the hot streak of world number one Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler claimed his fourth win in five events on Monday when the weather-delayed RBC Heritage concluded at Hilton Head.
That run includes a second Masters title and has seen the world number one extend his sizeable lead over Rory McIlroy at the top of the rankings.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the facts and figures around Scheffler’s streak and how they compare to previous runs.
What makes Scheffler’s streak so impressive?Winning any event on the PGA Tour is difficult, but Scheffler has claimed two of the biggest in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, a major championship at Augusta National and the RBC Heritage, which boasted a stronger than usual field after being elevated to a Signature Event this season. Victory at Sawgrass made Scheffler the first player ever to win back-to-back Players titles. His only “failure” was a tie for second in the Houston Open.
Has this been done before?Scheffler is the first player to win four times in five starts on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods, who did so at the end of 2007 and again to start 2008. He is also the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh (2004) – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour. With many players taking a break after winning a major, Scheffler is also the first to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming a green jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985.
How much has Scheffler earned?Scheffler has banked an average of £3.17million for each of his four victories and “only” £448,000 for his five-way tie for second behind Stephan Jaeger in the Houston Open. The total sum of £13.14m would place Scheffler 145th on the PGA Tour’s career earnings list and he is closing in on the single-season record of £17million he set last year. In comparison, Woods won nine times on the PGA Tour in 2000, including three major titles, and never finished worse than 23rd in 20 starts. His prize money totalled £7.4m.
Does the world ranking reflect Scheffler’s dominance?In a word, yes. Ahead of the Genesis Invitational in mid-February, Rory McIlroy could have become world number one by winning at Riviera with Scheffler finishing third or worse. Now, Scheffler has more than double the total and average points of McIlroy, while the average points gap between the top two (7.6493) is bigger than that between McIlroy and the players tied for 4,123st in the standings.
So is Scheffler the most dominant player in world golf?Not quite. Hours before Scheffler completed his victory in Hilton Head, fellow American Nelly Korda had wrapped up a fifth consecutive win on the LPGA Tour by claiming her second major title in the Chevron Championship. Korda’s winning streak matches that of Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam in 2004-05, although her bid for an unprecedented sixth straight win will have to wait after she cited exhaustion when pulling out of this week’s event in Los Angeles. While Scheffler has earned £13.14m from his last five events, Korda’s five wins have been worth £1.94m.
Scottie Scheffler matches Tiger Woods achievement with fourth win in five
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler hailed his mental strength after making it four wins in five starts with a rain-delayed victory at the RBC Heritage.
Scheffler returned to Hilton Head on Monday morning holding a five-stroke lead with three holes to play after a storm halted proceedings on Sunday.
The world number one dropped a shot at the last to finish 19 under par, three shots ahead of fellow American Sahith Theegala, with Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark another stroke back.
Scheffler is the first player to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming the Green Jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985 and the first to win four times in five starts on the US-based circuit since Tiger Woods in 2007-08.
Each of Scheffler’s last seven wins have come with at least eight of the world’s top 10 in the field and he is the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour.
“I was able to go home for a couple days and celebrate,” Scheffler said.
“I didn’t really put much thought into it. I had committed to playing the tournament here, it was part of the plan, so we stuck to the plan.
“I talked about it at the beginning of the week – I didn’t show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations. I came here with a purpose, got off to a slow start but after that played some really nice golf.
“I do have fairly high expectations for myself and when I show up at tournaments, I try to do my best.
“I’ve talked a lot about kind of the preparation and what it takes for me to show up on a first tee ready to go, and I feel like I’ve been putting in the work and been playing some good golf, and it’s nice to be seeing some results for that with wins.
“On the course, I think the last month or so I’ve been as good mentally as I have in a long time and I think that’s why I am seeing some of the results.
“This week could be a good example of starting off and looking at the leaderboard on Thursday and everybody is just making birdie after birdie and I’m sitting there over par and I’ve had a shank on the day.
“I just did my best to stay patient and wait until I got hot.
“Had a nice finish to the round on Thursday and then had a really solid Friday where I felt like I played better than I scored, and then I had Saturday where I just played some really good golf.”
Rory McIlroy carded a final-round 74 to slip into a tie for 33rd.
Scottie Scheffler five strokes ahead with weather forcing a Monday finish
Scottie Scheffler has a five stroke lead with just three holes to play after rain halted play in the RBC Heritage on Sunday.
The US Open champion and world number one continued his great form at Hilton Head in South Carolina on the fourth day of the tournament, hitting an eagle and two birdies across 15 holes.
A storm stopped play for two and a half hours with darkness forcing a finish on Monday.
Fellow American Wyndham Clark had a strong day through his 18 holes, moving into second place with eight birdies and an eagle, but two bogeys and a double bogey stopped him from further encroaching on Scheffler’s lead.
Clark is tied with American’s Patrick Cantlay and J T Poston, who have one hole left to play and Sahith Theegala, who has three holes left to play.
Scheffler is looking for his fourth win in five starts.
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