PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Scottie Scheffler won a year-long bet with his caddie on Saturday. On Sunday, he’s hoping to win the Players Championship, return to World No. 1 and earn the largest check on the PGA Tour.
Scheffler fired a 7-under 65 at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday to grab the 54-hole lead with a total of 14-under 202, two strokes clear of Australian Min Woo Lee.
Scheffler, who had to finish off his second-round 69 in the morning, vaulted into the lead with a birdie-eagle start in the afternoon. After pulling his second shot at the par-5 second hole, he lofted a pitch from the rough and jarred the 62-foot shot and then jawed at caddie Ted Scott having recorded his 10th hole-out…and it’s only March.
“I had a decent lie there in the rough and was able to hit a flop shot pretty much exactly where I wanted to land it,” he said. “I was definitely fortunate to see it go in, and then Teddy and I got a year-long thing going that I just beat him on and he owes me something, but he didn’t have any of it, and so he owes me. It’s an IOU from Teddy.”
Scheffler made his lone bogey at the seventh, but it barely slowed him down as he bounced back with consecutive birdies. He closed with birdies on two of his final three holes as he posted his career low at the Stadium Course and claimed his seventh career 54-hole lead/co-lead on Tour. The reigning Masters champion is seeking to win for the second time this season —he defended his title at the WM Phoenix Open in February — and supplant Jon Rahm as World No. 1. But Scheffler knows that winning will take care of the latter.
“I think the ranking is just an algorithm,” he said. “For me, I would much rather win the tournament than get back to No. 1 in the world. So that will be my focus going into tomorrow is just going out and having a solid round of golf, and the rankings will be the rankings.”
Lee's making a name for himself
Min Woo Lee is trying to catch up to his sister, Minjee, who has already won two majors on the LPGA Tour. On Saturday, he shot 6-under 66 at TPC Sawgrass to improve to 12 under for the week and just two strokes behind leader Scottie Scheffler.
The 24-year-old Australian carded a final-round 66 at the Honda Classic that propelled him into the field at the Players without a shot to spare as No. 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking at the cut off that Sunday.
“It would have been guttering to come 51st in the ranking and not get in,” he said. “I think it ended up being one eighth of a shot with the ranking points. Things did favor in my way, and you got to make the most of it.”
Has he ever. Lee’s round started with a bang. He holed out from 112 yards for eagle on the first hole.
“I thinned a nice 55 (degree wedge) in there and one-hopped and back-spun in the hole. So it wasn’t a perfect shot but it looked good on TV,” he said, joking later, “I won’t say I thinned it; keep it between us.”
Lee blistered the front to the tune of 5-under 31. He added back-to-back birdies at Nos. 11 and 12 and only a bogey at 18 when he lipped out a 6-foot putt, which spoiled an otherwise clean card on Saturday.
Lee, who won the 2021 Scottish Open on the DP World Tour, plays most of his golf on that circuit but is motivated to make a name for himself in America. He is attempting to become just the third player in tournament history to make the Players his first Tour victory.
“I don’t think people that play over on the DP World Tour are surprised to see him in contention in any event,” Tommy Fleetwood said. “But, yeah, he’s obviously clearly got a bright future ahead of him.”
“He doesn’t have a weakness,” said Aaron Rai. “I think he’s going to be a star out here on the PGA Tour in the coming years.
He quickly is becoming a fan favorite this week and had fans chanting his name as he walked to the 17th and 18th greens.
“Hearing the crowd chant, that’s all I’m asking for,” he said. “Yeah, just had a lot of fun today. Did a lot of the right things, and hopefully I can do it again tomorrow.”
Hoge’s record day
After shooting a course-record 10-under 62 at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, Tom Hoge was hungry for a cheeseburger.
He’d been feasting on birdies all day, 10 in all, the last a 10-foot birdie putt at the ninth to break the record previously held by nine golfers at Pete Dye’s design that is better known for bringing players to their knees.
On Thursday, Hoge limped home in 6-over 78 and booked a flight home to Dallas, assuming he’d be missing the cut. But he rallied to shoot 68 on Friday and due to a suspension of play because of inclement weather, he sweated out waiting to see whether he’d make the cut, which he did on the number.
62 @TPCSawgrass 🔥 💪 pic.twitter.com/dDISpesnts
— Adam Schupak (@AdamSchupak) March 11, 2023
“It wasn’t until Eric Cole was putting on the last hole, until it was really confirmed. I felt like I made some really nice swings coming down the stretch yesterday when I was right on the cut line trying to make it all the way 15 through 18. So I felt like my game was in good order, as silly as that is to say, that I could have missed the cut,” Hoge said. “I just felt fortunate to have tee time this morning. Just tried to go out and make as many birdies as I could.”
Friday’s rain softened the greens and left the Stadium Course vulnerable. The third-round scoring average of 69.573 was the lowest scoring average in any round in tournament history.
Hoge, who started on the back nine, made birdies in bunches. He drove the green at the par-4 12th two-putted for a birdie, and knocked an 8-iron to 4 feet at 15, one of eight shots within 12 feet on the day. He tacked on three in a row on the front nine beginning with a 19-foot putt at the second.
Hoge drained a 24-foot birdie putt at the par-3 eighth to go 9 under for the day and then wedged to 10 feet at his last to card 31s on both sides and a bogey-free 62.
Hoge, who likes to eat sweets for breakfast, had only one complaint to log.
“The food is too healthy in player dining,” he said. “There’s a QR code for us; I logged that complaint. They need some food like the rest of the obese people in America eat.”
He’s not much of a breakfast guy, but the lunch spread in player dining features too many vegetables, he said.
“I’m pretty hungry right now,” he said. “I’m ready for a cheeseburger or something.”
Fleetwood floats into contention
Tommy Fleetwood was 4 over through 25 holes at the Players Championship and in danger of missing the cut. He had been in his words “dreadful on the greens.”
“I was making an absolute hash of it early yesterday in the round,” he said.
That’s until he drained a 24-foot birdie putt at eight and flipped the script. That was the first of three straight birdies before play was suspended on Friday due to inclement weather. He picked up where he left off and rallied to shoot 2-under 70 to make the cut. The floodgates had opened and Fleetwood took advantage, playing a stretch of 23 holes in 13 under.
Fleetwood made eight birdies and just one bogey – No. 8 coincidentally – to post 7-under 65 and improve to 9-under 207 and a tie for fourth heading into the final round, five strokes back. Fleetwood has won five times on the DP World Tour and been a Ryder Cup hero for Europe, but he’s still searching for his first PGA Tour win.
“That’s been a goal, a dream, an incentive as long as I’ve been playing out here,” he said. “Yeah, sure, I would have loved to have done it by now. I would have loved to have done it multiple times. But I haven’t, so tomorrow’s another chance.”
Rai’s rising
Aaron Rai matched leader Scottie Scheffler’s 65, but not even Scheffler could match Rai’s closing stretch — a 4-1-3 finish.
The highlight, of course, was the ace at the par-3 17th hole, marking the first Players Championship with multiple aces at the 17th. On Thursday, Hayden Buckley hit one. Rai did it in similar fashion, hitting his shot about 15 feet past the front left pin before it spun back and into the hole.
“Felt at a very good number with my gap wedge,” Rai said. “Hit it great, looked great in the air and very pleased to see it go in. That was an incredible moment.”
Rai, a 28-year-old Englishman with two DP World Tour victories to his credit, is tied for fourth at 9-under 209, with Fleetwood and first-round leader Chad Ramey. Rai recently closed on a home just five minutes from TPC Sawgrass and has been playing the course regularly for the past year. It’s not even his first ace at the Stadium Course. During his initial round at the course, he made an ace at the par-3 third hole.
“To be here at Sawgrass and to have possibly a chance tomorrow is an amazing opportunity,” he said. “I’m sure I will feel a little bit of nerves and a little bit of apprehension, but I’m looking forward to it. It’s an amazing opportunity.”
