Seamus Power and Rory McIlroy both lost ground in the third round of the Travelers Championship as Xander Schauffele remained on top of the leaderboard heading into the final day.
On moving day at TPC River Highlands, Power and McIlroy made all the wrong moves carding rounds of level-par 70 and two-over 72 respectively.
Waterford’s Power is in a share of 19th on eight-under while McIlroy is two shots further back with Schauffele leading Patrick Cantlay by the minimum on seventeen-under.
Power will be disappointed he couldn’t make any late inroads into the lead having got himself to ten-under midway through his back nine after birdies on 13 and 14.
However, he found the water on 15 and carded a double-bogey six which spelled the end of his chances.
McIlroy looked set to hold the halfway lead but a quadruple bogey and a double bogey on his back nine saw him surrender his lead and require a quick start to get back in the hunt in round three.
The four-time major champion’s chances ended when he double-bogeyed the second after clattering into a tree with his tee shot leading to a calamity of errors before eventually registering a six.
The world number two has now played five of the last six weeks including a win at the RBC Canadian Open and that seemed to tell as he cut a jaded figure on the golf course. McIlroy has also had to bare the brunt of most of the LIV questions in recent weeks as the unofficial official spokesperson for the PGA Tour and will welcome a week of rest before playing the JP McManus Pro-Am next Monday.
At the top of the leaderboard Schauffele carded a three-under 67 which included two birdies in his last three holes to keep his nose in front of close friend Cantlay who shot a seven-under 63 to move to within one.
Schauffele who has been ranked as high as fourth in the world has fallen to 15th after a quiet season to date and he will be looking to end a two-year winless drought on the PGA Tour.
The Olympic Gold medallist is excited to play alongside Cantlay on Sunday and feels it will be an enjoyable pairing for them.
“Yeah, it will be fun. I’ve been looking forward to playing with Pat in a final round. We don’t get paired together very often in regular tournaments, only in those team ones. So there’s a certain level of comfort we have playing with each other and hopefully that pays off and hopefully we can make a lot of birdies.
“We sort of, we play golf in a similar fashion. We see eye to eye on several topics and a lot of commonalities. Our girls get along great. We really enjoy spending time together in those team events and outside of golf as well.”
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