World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler just wanted to keep going with Saturday’s play in The CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Scheffler stayed in position for his first victory of the year by shooting 5-under par 66 in the third round at McKinney, Texas.
Scheffler, at 23 under for the tournament, holds an eight-stroke lead on the TPC Craig Ranch course going into Sunday’s final round.
The horn blew to suspend play because of darkness, but Scheffler and other golfers opted to finish their final holes and make the round complete.
“If we were going to come back, come back pretty early in the morning,” Scheffler said. “I think even if finishing 18 would have cost me a shot, I think it would have saved me a shot (Sunday) based on energy, not having to come out here early and wait five hours or so to tee off. Once they gave us the go-ahead to finish, I was definitely very anxious to finish.”
Adam Schenk and South Africa’s Erik van Rooyen are at 15 under, both notching 65s for the third round and joined by Ricky Castillo (67). Kurt Kitayama (68) and Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas (67) at 14 under are next in a fifth-place tie.
Scheffler birdied Nos. 14 and 15 to extend his lead and tacked on a final birdie on the last hole — not that he clearly saw the whole thing.
“I couldn’t see very well, but I finished in the dark many times growing up,” he said. “It’s not that big of a deal.
Until the late wave of finishers, France’s Antoine Rozner had the best score at 13 under following his third-round 63 among golfers to complete the third round. He had nine birdies and a bogey.
Rozner is tied for seventh with Colombia’s Nico Echavarria (66), while Eric Cole (67), Sam Stevens (70) and Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard (68) also are within range. Stevens, a native of nearby Fort Worth, will be among the gallery’s favorites if he can make a charge.
Scheffler carried a six-stroke advantage into the third round. He reached 20 under for the tournament before his first bogey of the week, taking a 4 on the fourth hole. He had two more birdies before a bogey at No. 11.
Scheffler considers this a special tournament. He played in his first PGA Tour event in the tournament in 2014.
“This tournament means a lot to me,” he said. “I grew up coming out here to watch.”
It will be a long shot for anyone to catch Scheffler, but several golfers attempted to make it close.
“… I didn’t hit great shots but fortunately was able to get the ball up-and-down to keep the round going,” Schenk said.
A bogey for van Rooyen on the final hole hurt his cause after recording birdies on four of the previous five holes.
“I’m so competitive,” he said. “I’m always going to back myself and give myself a chance. I know that I’m going up against, well, definitely the best player in the world, but there’s a lot of players behind me as well. It’s a mountain to climb, but I’m ready for it.”
The third round didn’t begin until the afternoon after a large number of golfers had to finish play from Friday’s suspended second round. Scheffler completed the second round Friday, while some golfers had yet to complete a hole in that round.
Seventy golfers made the cut. Among those failing to advance by one stroke was Canada’s Taylor Pendrith, the defending champion who was at 4 under following a second-round 71.
Davis Riley had an eventful conclusion of the second round. He used an eagle putt to catapult past the cutline. That came after earlier in the round he self-reported a two-shot penalty for using a distance-measuring device slope feature.
“That would have been a tough pill to swallow off a two-shot penalty to miss the cut by one,” Riley said. “So it was a lot of relief.
This is the third week the PGA Tour is testing the device.
–Field Level Media
