Three share lead after third round at Sanderson Farms Championship

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ATLANTA — Scottie Scheffler might have had a roller coaster of an opening round Thursday at the TOUR Championship if only he had been paying attention to the scoreboards. Scheffler started with a two-shot lead as the No. 1 seed in the FedExCup. He led by as many as six shots on the front nine. Then his lead was down to two. And when he finished with three straight birdies for a 5-under 65, he was five strokes ahead of Xander Schauffele. “I didn’t know any of that,” he said. “I was just trying to go out and shoot a good number.” Rory McIlroy’s day at East Lake was far more wild. And he knew it. A two-time FedExCup champion, McIlroy started six shots behind. He teed off in a downpour and hooked his tee shot over the fence and out-of-bounds. He reloaded and found a bunker. He missed a 6-foot putt and took triple bogey, and just like that was nine shots behind. And then he went rough-to-rough to make bogey on the next hole. McIlroy had only one par on the front nine and remarkably salvaged a 67. “Not the best way to start,” McIlroy said. “The golf course is really gettable, so I knew there was a lot of holes out there that you could birdie. I knew my game was good. It was just one of those things. Not the ideal way to start, but proud of how I bounced back from that.” Equally impressive was Open Championship winner Cameron Smith, playing for the first time since the opening FedExCup Playoff event because of a hip injury that gets aggravated in soft conditions. East Lake wasn’t quite a real lake, but overnight rain and the downpour made for a good walk spoiled. And so began the final leg in the chase for the FedExCup and the $18 million prize. Scheffler has had the best year with his Masters victory among three wins against strong fields. He would love nothing more than to finish it off, and he played that way. His 3-iron from 230 yards up the hill to 15 feet led to eagle on the sixth hole. He dropped only one shot, going from bunker over the green at the par-3 ninth and having to make an understated 10-foot putt to escape with bogey. And then he had a big finish, capped off by going from the left rough over the water to 30 feet for a two-putt birdie to reach 15-under par (which accounts for his 10-under start). U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick finished with an eagle for a bogey-free 64 and was six shots behind — he matched the best round of the soggy day and gained only one shot on Scheffler — while Joaquin Niemann (64) and defending FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay (70) were another shot behind. Schauffele is dangerous as ever, and his record at East Lake is astounding for someone who has never left Atlanta in possession of a trophy. This was his 21st round in the TOUR Championship, and his 19th round under par. The other two were even-par 70s. He had the low 72-hole score in 2020 but started too far behind to catch Dustin Johnson. “It’s a weird event,” Schauffele said. “We do this once a year, and it’s one of the bigger events for us to do it. Because of those things, you just have to try your best to stay in the present and not get ahead of it. Tuck your head and play your best golf.” Weirder still was an injury that Scheffler mentioned from the weekend at The Open, where he went into Sunday in the mix and shot 74. He had never disclosed it and wasn’t entirely comfortable getting into the details except to say he was in pain. “I had what’s called a pilonidal infection. It’s an infection at the top of your butt crack,” he said, trying not to crack a smile. “You can look it up. It was really hard for me to bend down. It was really hard for me to make a swing on Sunday. Walking was actually extremely difficult. “Just one of those things that happened.” All part of what already has been a remarkable year, and now is 54 holes away from becoming even more memorable.

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HOUSTON – For the 17th and last time, the Golf Club of Houston is the host location this week for the PGA TOUR’s annual stop in America’s fourth largest city. Starting next season, the Houston Open will move closer to the downtown area, returning to a renovated Memorial Park, the tournament course between 1951-63. Three things you could usually count on in the first 16 years at the Golf Club of Houston: 1) The possibility of a playoff (six times since 2005); 2) Australians in the mix (three winners at the Golf Club of Houston; nine times overall); and 3) A potential first-time TOUR winner (four times since 2008). There have been plenty of interesting moments since 2003 when the Golf Club of Houston first hosted the event (at the Members Course until 2005 before switching to the Tournament Course). Here’s a countdown of the top 5 moments at the Golf Club. NO. 5: JONES’ DRAMATIC FINISH Australian Matt Jones started the final round in 2014 six shots off the lead held by Matt Kuchar. He was still three strokes behind with three holes to play. But Kuchar bogeyed two of his last three holes and Jones made a 46-foot birdie putt on 18 to force a playoff. Jones then produced an even bigger shot, holing out from 42 yards with a 54-degree wedge for birdie to win for the first time on TOUR. It was the largest comeback in the history of the Golf Club of Houston – and it gave Jones a chance to hobnob with former President George H.W. Bush, who was at the trophy presentation. “He just said congratulations,� Jones said. “He liked the trophy. Big trophy.� NO. 4: POULTER’S MASTERS INVITE A week before arriving at the 2018 Houston Open, Englishman Ian Poulter was mistakenly told that he had qualified for the Masters after reaching the quarterfinals at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, which was thought to be enough to move him inside the top 50 in the world rankings. As it turned out, he needed to win the quarterfinals match against Kevin Kisner. When he didn’t, he left Austin deeply disappointed, and contemplating not even playing Houston before opting to give it a go. Still, an opening 73 didn’t help matters. But then Poulter turned things around, entering the final round tied for the lead with Beau Hossler. At the 18th on Sunday, Poulter needed to make a 19-foot birdie putt to force a playoff. He did … and then won the tournament with a par. This time, there was no doubt he had qualified for the Masters. “Last week was painful,� Poulter said. “To come here this week, I was tired. I was frustrated on Thursday. … I was patient. I waited my time. And this is amazing.� NO. 3: MICKELSON’S FIRST WIN AT AGE 40 Phil Mickelson arrived at the 2011 Houston Open as the reigning Masters champion and soon-to-be World Golf Hall of Famer (he was voted in the previous November, with the induction ceremony a month away). But since he had turned 40 the previous June, he had not won on TOUR. That changed in Houston when he shot 63-65 on the weekend to win by three strokes, with his 63 matching the course record. The victory was emotional on another level, as Phil had often made trips to Houston’s MD Anderson Cancer Center with his wife and his mother, both of whom had battled breast cancer. “To be able to spend some time with the people that helped us these last couple of years has been very special, too.,� Mickelson said afterwards. “They’re just incredible doctors that are at an amazing facility.� NO. 2: SCOTT STARTS HIS TEXAS SLAM Australian Adam Scott is the only player to complete the Texas Slam, winning all four PGA TOUR stroke-play events in the Lone Star State. The 2007 Houston Open was the first of his four Texas wins, as he shot 65-66 on the weekend. He ended the final round with a flourish, making a 48-foot par-saving putt on the 18th hole to seal his three-shot win over fellow Aussie (and defending champ) Stuart Appleby and Bubba Watson, the latter having held a three-shot lead after 54 holes. A year later, Scott won the AT&T Byron Nelson in Dallas, then in 2010, he won the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio. Finally in 2014, he completed the Texas Slam by winning the Charles Schwab Championship at Colonial in Fort Worth. But his connection with Houston may be the strongest because of his ties to the Harmon family of golf coaches – including Dick Harmon, who had passed away at age 58 the previous year. “Maybe Dick was on my side coming down the 18th today,� Scott said. NO. 1: LOCAL HERO COUPLES WINS In the first year of the move from TPC at the Woodlands to the Golf Club of Houston, Fred Couples became the first University of Houston alum to win the local TOUR stop. He opened with a 65 at the Members Course and never let up, shooting four rounds of 68 or better to win by four shots. Although Couples is a Seattle native, Houstonians have considered him one of their own since his college days when he played on a team that included fellow PGA TOUR pro Blaine McCallister and CBS golf broadcaster Jim Nantz. Asked afterwards who was happier to win, himself or the city of Houston, Couples just smiled. “Well, we’ll call it a tie.� The win was an emotional one for Couples, as he ended a five-year drought. It would also be the last of his 15 PGA TOUR victories in a career that eventually landed him in the World Golf Hall of Fame.

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