If Scottie Scheffler loses the 107th PGA Championship from here then he should be arrested… again.
Scheffler played his last five holes in five under par to pull away from a rather modest looking chasing pack and put himself on the cusp of a maiden PGA Championship victory at Quail Hollow and third major in all.
A tap in eagle on the par-4 14th was the catalyst for a sensational run that saw the world number one birdie the 15th, 17th and 18th for a 65 and an eleven-under total and he will look to convert his third successive 54-hole lead in a major.
It hadn’t been plain sailing for Scheffler up until then he had just bogeyed two of his last three holes although a birdie on 12 had softened the blow after a nice run that had seen him roll in three birdies on the front nine after opening his round with a bogey.
“I executed really well. Pretty much after hole 11 I feel like I hit a lot of really good shots. 13 I got a weird wind gust and then hit a poor bunker shot, but outside of that, I felt like I executed really well on back nine and hit the shots that I was trying to hit and was able to get some results from those,” said Scheffler.
“Birdieing the last two was definitely two extra shots. I mean, I would assume those holes are playing over par, and so I definitely stole a couple shots there, and it was nice momentum towards the end of the round.”
Scheffler leads by three shots from former Ryder Cup player Alex Noren who also put on a fine finish of four birdies in his last five holes for a 66.
Behind them are journeymen players JT Poston, Davis Riley (both seven-under) and halfway leader Jhonattan Vegas on six-under alongside Si Woo Kim and two-time major winner Jon Rahm who may even be too far back to challenge Scheffler in this form.
A late wobble from Bryson DeChambeau suddenly has him six shots off the pace alongside Matthieu Pavon and Matt Fitzpatrick.
At one point Scheffler was tied with Bryson and Rahm but another display of ruthless excellence has put him almost over the hill and far away.
“I definitely felt like I hit it a lot better today. Definitely was in the fairway a lot, so definitely drove the ball better. Not much changed to be honest with you. I just found kind of the right sequence today and was seeing my shots really well. Did a good job of executing. Yesterday managed myself around the golf course to post a really good score and today just took advantage of some opportunities down the stretch to post a good number,” Scheffler added.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t the moving day charge that either Rory McIlroy or Tom McKibbin would have wanted.
McIlroy seemed to take one step forward and two back during a third round of 72 which leaves him in a share of 49th place on two-over.
McKibbin is also on that mark after a disappointing back nine undid some hard work on the front where he managed to make the turn just five shots off the pace on one-under.
However, dropped shots on the third, fourth and ninth to finish saw him sign for a 74.
Scoring HERE
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