SCOTTIE Scheffler powered into the third-round lead at the Players Championship on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), taking advantage of ideal scoring conditions as the golfers produced a spectacular display of birdies, eagles, a rare ace and a record low round from Tom Hoge.
Masters champion Scheffler, who can reclaim the No. 1 world ranking with a win on Sunday (Monday in Manila), got his round off to a sizzling birdie-eagle start to lay the foundation for a seven-under 65 and two-shot lead over Australia’s Min Woo Lee going into Sunday’s final round at the TPC Sawgrass.
“I played really good today,” said Scheffler, summing up his performance. “I got off to a nice start, which is always good.
“Kept it rolling from there, gave myself a lot of looks.
“Good finish as well.
“So overall very solid day, only one bogey, which is really good around this golf course.”
Lee, whose sister Minjee Lee is a twice major winner on the women’s Tour, also got his round off to the best possible start with an eagle at the first and had looked poised to share top spot on the leaderboard with Scheffler until picking up his only bogey of the day at the 18th for a six-under 66 total.
“Tomorrow could be the biggest day of my life, but I’m going to go out there and have fun again,” said Lee, who cracked the top 50 of the world rankings last week to earn his Players spot. “I just crept into this tournament and making the most of it and soaking it all in.
“It’s one of the biggest regular season events, and it’s obviously considered the fifth major, and it would have been guttering to come 51st in the ranking and not get in.”
Lurking two shots back and four off the pace is Australian Cam Davis (67) with a pair of Englishmen Tommy Fleetwood (65) and Aaron Rai (65), South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout (69) and first-round leader Chad Ramey (68), all one shot further adrift at nine-under.
Rai moved into contention with the help of a hole-in-one at the infamous par-three 17th, landing his tee shot perfectly on the island green and watching it spin back into the cup.
