Brandt Snedeker maintained a 3-stroke over the field as he heads into the final round of play in Napa, Calif.
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LA QUINTA, Calif. – Scottie Scheffler and Andrew Landry have separated themselves from the field at The American Express, but the Stadium Course at PGA West was designed to encourage big swings in scoring. At 21 under par, Scheffler and Landry are four shots ahead of Rickie Fowler, who sits alone in third place. Only two more players – Ryan Moore and Chase Seiffert – sit within five strokes. RELATED: Leaderboard | Tee times | Fowler showcases new swing in final group The co-leaders can’t take their eye off those pursuers, though. The Stadium Course was the 10th-easiest course on TOUR last season but also allowed a double-bogey or worse on 2.2% of the holes played. That was the 15th-highest rate on TOUR last season. “If you’re not on your game, you can really struggle,â€� Scheffler said. This is a course, after all, that TOUR players revolted against when it was first played in 1987. The late Pete Dye was ordered to make this Stadium Course, the Western version of his masterpiece at TPC Sawgrass, “the hardest damn golf course in the world.â€� It may no longer hold that title, but water still comes into play on several holes, including the island-green 17th and penal, par-4 18th. The two co-leaders have taken drastically different paths to the final group. Scheffler, last year’s Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year, has made a quick transition to the TOUR. He has five top-25s in seven starts this season, including three top-10s. He’s 24th in the FedExCup standings. Weekend scoring has been his only weakness. He leads the TOUR in first-round scoring (66.7) and ranks 12th in second-round scoring. He’s outside the top 100 in each of the final two rounds, though. Scheffler is only 23, though, and each experience has made him more comfortable. “I think this is my best chance, being tied for the lead going into the last round. I’ve gotten off to some good starts but I haven’t been in this position going into the final round. I feel like I’ve been chasing,â€� Scheffler said. “It will be nice to be up there near the lead and it will be a fun day.â€� Saturday was the third time this season that he teed off with at least a share of the 36-hole lead. He couldn’t keep pace the first two times, falling to fifth place both times. This will be the first 54-hole lead of his career. Landry, on the other hand, hasn’t played much on weekends lately. He’s missed the cut in seven of eight starts, and was 5 over par for the season entering this week. That included a 13-over-par performance at last week’s Sony Open in Hawaii, where his rusty game – he was sick before making his 2020 debut – got caught up in the high winds. He is 178th in the FedExCup. Landry has one PGA TOUR win, at the 2018 Valero Texas Open, and one strong performance at this event to draw upon. He was runner-up two years ago after pushing Jon Rahm in a playoff. Rahm finally ended it by holing a 12-footer for birdie on the fourth extra hole. Landry, playing in the final group, holed an 11-foot birdie putt on 18 to force the playoff. Landry also had an 8-footer for the win on the second extra hole and an 11-footer to extend the playoff, but missed both putts. He also finished T28 at this event last year. He’s 58 under par in his last 11 rounds in this event, dating back to the first round two years ago. Ten of those rounds have been in the 60s. “We build our schedule around golf courses that fit us. So this is one of them, it fits me,â€� Landry said Saturday. “I enjoy coming out here.â€� A win would make him love it even more.
ALBANY, Bahamas – Rickie Fowler likened his early birdie blitz on Sunday at the Hero World Challenge to a rodeo ride on a wild bronco. He wanted to just hang on till he was bucked off. The up and down crazy ride could be a metaphor for his career where he’s had plenty of highs, but some lows as well. Fowler’s lows are first world problems. He’s failed to close out as many tournaments as he believes he should have. Including major championships. He has four official wins on the PGA TOUR – this one is unofficial – but he has 12 runner-ups and seven thirds. He has seven top-5 results in majors without a win including his incredible 2014 where he was T5-T2-T2-T3 across the four majors. The trend continued this fall where in his one start this season at the OHL Classic in Mayakoba he was second. But if his Sunday 11-under 61 at Albany – which set up a four-shot victory margin after coming back from a seven-shot deficit – showed anything… it is that he’s capable of riding that horse till it’s worn out. He will always get back on and ride again. With this attitude he can be a champion more often. This week Fowler is the champ. The 28-year-old was actually the solo leader before the turn such was his incredible opening. He made seven straight birdies to open the round, cooled off with a near miss for another on the eighth before adding another at the ninth. An 8-under 28 front nine. Astonishing. Thoughts of 59 were certainly on the cards when he was 10 under through 13 holes, needing just three birdies in his last five holes. But he could only find one. “You kind of just try… you ride until the horse kicks you off,â€� Fowler said of his incredible start. “You start getting amped up or excited at times so you have to kind of pull yourself back and make sure you stay in the moment. “It’s fun when you get on birdie runs just to see how far you can go. You know it’s not going to last forever…â€� Now he will enter 2018 full of confidence hoping to once again get up on the horse multiple times. Last season he claimed the Honda Classic but just as importantly ranked inside the top 40 on TOUR for every category in the important Strokes Gained statistics. “The big thing was to not lose what we had going this past year because it was a very solid year across the board, and what we’re going to work on going forward is just picking up a few of the little things that could have made just that difference to put us in the winner’s circle more on Sunday,â€� he added. Fowler wants more wins, but refuses to measure himself purely on trophies. He says frustration has never really entered the picture. “If you look at winning as your only sense of success, you’re going to deal with failure a lot,â€� he explained. “There’s a lot of times where you could pick it apart and last year I could have gotten down on myself a handful of times for not getting the job done or not winning more, but it was a fun year. “Being in contention with your buddies and some of the best players in the world, if you keep doing that trophies will fall into place.â€� How will he continue to prepare himself over the holiday break? With money games against Tiger Woods and others at their Medalist base in Florida. “I think he sharpened me up a little bit,â€� Fowler said of getting into fierce battles with Woods. “I’ve gotten a little scared of how good he was playing at home, thought I needed to start playing a little bit better or something. “There’s no better way than putting yourself against guys that you’re going to be playing with, putting yourself in game‑time situations.â€� You can expect him to be in these situations often – both at home and on the TOUR – again in 2018. Don’t be surprised if he stays on the horse more often next year.
Jim Nantz will be alone in the CBS booth during the Charles Schwab Challenge, and the network is taking a stab at modernizing its coverage.
