CHARLOTTE, N.C. — One swing was all Scottie Scheffler needed to send Quail Hollow Club into delirium Saturday, to briefly rattle Bryson DeChambeau, and to give this PGA Championship the star power it had been lacking.
Scheffler stood on the 14th tee, 304 yards from the hole, thinking his shot might come up a little short with the wind gusting right to left against his preferred fade. It was nearly perfect, the ball climbing onto the green and settling just inside the edge some three feet away from the cup.
The ensuing eagle put him atop the leaderboard for good and started a closing stretch that was nothing short of a golf clinic, 5 under over the last five holes. It sent Scheffler to a 6-under-par 65 and a three-shot lead at 11-under 202 through 54 holes as the two-time Masters winner closed in on a third major title.
“I executed the shot,” Scheffler said. “Did I execute it thinking I hit it (within) two feet or whatever it was? I mean, there’s a little bit of luck involved in that when you’re at 300 yards. But overall, I executed how I wanted to.”
He did that a lot in the final hour and left so many contenders feeling helpless against the 28-year-old Texan who has been the No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Ranking for two years.
Spain’s Jon Rahm made a run with three straight birdies. Fellow LIV Golf League star and multiple major winner Bryson DeChambeau briefly had the lead until his tee shot on the par-3 17th found the water. He was trying to salvage a bogey putt from 25 feet away when the loudest cheer from across the lake by the 14th green made him back off.
It was Scheffler, of course.
He turned a three-shot deficit after 36 holes into a three-shot lead over Sweden’s Alex Noren (66), who just a week earlier returned from seven months away with a hamstring injury and now gets his first opportunity to play in the final group on a Sunday at a major tournament.
Rahm was among those five shots behind and tied for fifth. DeChambeau was six back. They thought they would be closer until Scheffler wasn’t satisfied with taking the lead. He wanted a proper finish, then delivered it with two birdies, each packed with a little more emotion.
It ended with an 8-iron shot from the seam of a divot to just inside 10 feet for a birdie on the 18th, and Scheffler pumped his fist accompanied by his shout of an expletive with “yeah, baby!”
“I typically don’t show much emotion. I don’t know how much I showed there. I don’t really think about what I’m doing,” Scheffler said. “I just felt like I hit two really good shots in there … and was able to just take advantage of the opportunity.
“Wherever the emotion came from, felt like an important part of the round to finish off the round the right way.”
DeChambeau, the reigning U.S. Open champion who has been a major force at golf’s biggest events, briefly took the lead with a birdie on the par-5 15th. And then it all came undone.
He missed a four-foot par putt on the 16th. He was stunned to see his ball find the water on the 17th, leading to a double bogey. He had to scramble to make par on the 18th for a 69.
DeChambeau was three behind when he finished, twice that far back when Scheffler got done with his masterful performance.
“I’m behind the 8-ball now. I’ve got to get my guns a-blazing tomorrow,” he said.
Davis Riley made three straight birdies around the turn and two more on the scorable 14th and 15th holes for a 67. He was at 7 under and tied for third with North Carolina native J.T. Poston, who birdied his last hole for a 68.
Baylor School graduate Harris English (71) was tied for 36th at par, and fellow former Red Raiders standout Stephan Jaeger (76) was tied for 63rd at 5 over.
The third round was delayed by morning storms, forcing a change in tee times to threesomes off both tees that didn’t start until shortly before noon. And then it became a game of musical chairs for the lead. Nine players had at least a share of it at one point.
One of them was Rahm, a former No. 1 who has not seriously contended in the four majors he has played since joining LIV ahead of the 2024 season.
“Hard to express how hungry I may be for a major, about as hungry as anybody can be in this situation,” said Rahm, who won the 2021 U.S. Open and the 2023 Masters. “Very happy to be in this position.”
He finished nearly two hours before Scheffler and figured he would be at least one shot behind going into the final round.
“This golf course is tricky, and one shot is nothing on 18 holes,” Rahm said.
He now faces a five-shot deficit but is armed with growing confidence in his game.
Scheffler, remarkably, for the first time posted the low score of any round in a major.
The 3-wood on the 14th was what got it started. The up-and-down birdie on the par-5 15th gave him the lead for the first time in the tournament. His best shot was his only par in that stretch, a 7-iron off a slight hill to a back pin with a nasty wind direction.
He missed a 12-foot birdie putt but made an 18-footer for one of only six birdies at the 17th in the third round, then finished it with his seventh birdie of the day.
Rahm was tied for fifth with South Korea’s Si Woo Kim and Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas, who had two-shot leads after 18 holes and 36 holes and began Saturday with two straight bogeys. He steadied himself and was still in the mix until driving into the water on the 15th for a bogey and finishing out his 73 with a three-putt on the 18th.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy and 2024 PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele had a long day, nothing to do with each posting a 72. They were supposed to tee off at 8:25 a.m. and likely would be finished in time for lunch. With the change to threesomes of both tees, they didn’t start until 1:38 p.m. and were on the other side of Quail Hollow as all the action was on the closing stretch.
DeChambeau played in the final group at the Masters with McIlroy, and he played bogey-free through 15 holes Saturday until a finish that did more damage than he realized.
“It cost me three shots, and that’s what happens here at Quail Hollow,” he said.
It left DeChambeau, Rahm and everyone else in a tough spot trying to make up ground on Scheffler, already coming off an eight-shot victory in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, his most recent start before Thursday.