FORT WORTH, Texas — PGA Tour rookie Harry Hall intended to slip on his Vegas Golden Knights jersey while playing Colonial Country Club's par-3 13th hole Saturday. That plan changed after falling out of the lead because of consecutive double bogeys.
It was only after finishing the third round of the Charles Schwab Challenge back in a share of the lead, tied with Adam Schenk at 10-under 200 through 54 holes, that the 25-year-old Englishman who played golf at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas and still lives in that city pulled on the hockey jersey. His favorite NHL team was facing the local Dallas Stars in the Western Conference title series of the Stanley Cup playoffs Saturday night.
"Being 3 over going into the (13th) hole, I didn't think that would be the best thing to do," said Hall, who was the solo leader after the first and second rounds. "Yeah, I'm T1 after the round, so I thought I'd wear it in the interviews."
Hall's final putt in a round of 2-over 72 was a 10-foot par at No. 18 after he chipped from the fringe out of an awkward stance that had his heels hanging over the lip of a bunker. That followed a 10-foot birdie at the 383-yard 17th.
Schenk, also looking for his first win but in his 171st PGA Tour event, closed out a 67 with a 16-foot birdie putt.
"It was a lot of luck making that putt. It was a foot and a half of break and extremely fast," he said.
The 31-year-old Indiana native was the runner-up at the Valspar Championship in mid-March, but he has since missed four cuts and tied for 31st at the RBC Heritage. He hit 11 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens while recording only one bogey Saturday.
"We just did a really good job managing everything today. It was one of those days where right where we were looking was right where I actually hit it," Scheck said. "It doesn't happen very often, but it's nice when it does."
Baylor School graduate Harris English, who shot a 70 in the final group with Hall, was a stroke back at 9 under after his bogey on 18, when an eight-foot par chance curled just by the cup. That was two holes after he had sole possession of the lead with a 40-foot birdie on the par-3 16th.
English was alone in second after each of the first two rounds, three strokes behind Hall both times, but the 33-year-old former University of Georgia standout remains in striking distance as he seeks the fifth individual victory of his PGA Tour career. He won twice in 2013 and twice in 2021, when he was also helped the U.S. team to a Ryder Cup victory, but hip surgery early the following year led to missed time and less success.
English has made the cut in 14 of 21 events played this season, and while he tied for second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in early March and shared third place two weeks ago at the Wells Fargo Championship, he's also coming off a missed cut at the PGA Championship — so the extremely recent results were extremely mixed.
"I felt great with my game this week," English said. "It's kind of what I've been struggling with, I guess, over the past few years is that accuracy off the tee.
"I feel like I know this course really well and I'm very comfortable out here. So if I can keep that up tomorrow, I have a lot of chances at birdies and have a chance to move up the leaderboard. Hopefully I'll get that fifth win."
Two other Baylor grads were among those tied for 48th at 1 over, with Stephan Jaeger shooting a 70 and Luke List a 71.
Justin Suh (66) was tied for fourth with Argentina's Emiliano Grillo (72) at 6 under, while the four-man group a stroke behind included Norway's Viktor Hovland (66), who tied for second at the PGA Championship.
Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Ranking and the runner-up last year at Colonial, bogeyed three of his last five holes for a 72 after opening with consecutive 67s. He was among six players tied for 10th at 4 under.
Sam Burns, who overcame a seven-stroke deficit in the final round last year and beat Scheffler on the first playoff hole, had his second consecutive 70. He is tied for 16th at 3 under, again seven strokes off the lead after three rounds.
The only player to win at Colonial in back-to-back years is Ben Hogan, who did it twice — 1946 and 1947, the event's first two years, and again in 1952-53.
This is the first time since 2014 that it is a shared lead going into the final round at Colonial. There was a four-way tie after 54 holes that year, though eventual winner Adam Scott wasn't part of that quartet.
Hall's double bogeys came at Nos. 6 and 7, after 14 birdies and only two bogeys in his 41 holes before that.
"Yeah, to be T1 after today is pretty cool, especially after that front nine," Hall said. "It goes to show how hard the course is, and I did a good job battling it back and getting those two birdies on that back nine."