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FORT WORTH, Texas — Ben Griffin and Matti Schmid matched one another once more Saturday and can go into the ultimate spherical at Colonial tied 4 strokes forward of the sector and with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler lurking not a lot additional again.
Griffin and Schmid every shot 2-under 68 after quick begins they did not keep. They had been at 13-under 197 after posting the identical rating for the third straight day on the Charles Schwab Problem. They adopted opening 66s after which 63s that put them within the lead collectively.
Rickie Fowler shot 67 and at 201 shall be paired with the co-leaders within the remaining group Sunday when Schmid seeks his first PGA Tour victory and Griffin his first particular person title after pairing with Andrew Novak to win the Zurich Traditional of New Orleans final month. The 36-year-old Fowler, who has dropped to 127th on this planet after being within the high 25 as just lately as early 2024, hasn’t gained for the reason that 2023 Rocket Mortgage Traditional in Detroit that was his sixth victory and ended a four-year winless streak.
Coming off his third main victory on the PGA Championship per week in the past, Scheffler started the day 10 strokes again earlier than a 6-under 64 that bought him to 7 beneath and inside six strokes. He would have been nearer if not for 3 bogeys his final seven holes. However, with one other huge spherical Sunday, he nonetheless has an opportunity to turn out to be the primary participant since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win in three begins in a row.
Robert MacIntyre and Lucas Glover additionally shot 64. MacIntyre was in a tie for fourth with Nick Hardy and Akshay Bhatia at 8 beneath.
Scheffler was on the mistaken finish of one of many greatest comebacks at Colonial three years in the past when Sam Burns overcame a seven-shot deficit within the remaining spherical and beat his good pal on a playoff gap. That matched Nick Worth’s report seven-shot comeback in 1994, when he caught Scott Simpson and gained on the primary additional gap.
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Griffin and Schmid had birdies on the primary three holes Saturday to get to 14 beneath and shortly create some separation from the remainder of the sector. All three birdie putts by Griffin had been 7 ft or much less, whereas Schmid had a 40-footer on the 461-yard third gap.
They remained tied till Griffin’s method at No. 5 adjoining to the Trinity River was out of bounds and resulted in a double-bogey 6. He then missed the inexperienced together with his method on the sixth gap earlier than two-putting from 14 ft for bogey.
Griffin bought two strokes again with birdies at No. 8 and at No. 10 with a 35-footer. That bought him to 13 beneath, and Schmid dropped again to that when he drove into the appropriate tough after which hit right into a bunker on approach to a bogey on the 637-yard par-5 eleventh.
Scheffler, who teed off greater than two hours earlier than the co-leaders, was at 8 beneath after his eagle at No. 11, the place he bought on the inexperienced in two photographs and made the 15-foot putt. That adopted consecutive birdies as Nos. 9 and 10 and beginning the again 9 with an method to 2½ ft.
However back-to-back bogeys adopted after Scheffler hit tee photographs into bunkers at Nos. 12 and 13. He bought these strokes again with birdies at Nos. 16 and 17, solely to overlook the golf green at No. 18 to complete with one other bogey.
The one participant to win the Byron Nelson and Colonial in the identical season was Ben Hogan in 1946. Scheffler earlier this month gained his beloved hometown CJ Cup Byron Nelson when matching the PGA Tour’s 72-hole scoring report at 31-under 253 for an eight-stroke win.
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