Sepp Straka made three birdies and two eagles on par 5s for an eight-under 64 and seized on some late misses by Scottie Scheffler to take a one-shot lead on Saturday going into the ultimate spherical of the Hero World Problem.
Straka chipped in for eagle on the par-5 sixth and performed nice golf simply to maintain tempo with Scheffler, who had 5 straight 3s on his scorecard to begin the third spherical – one eagle, ytwo birdies, two pars – and was 9 below for his spherical by way of 15 holes.
Scheffler, going for a 3rd straight win at Albany Golf Membership, has stumbled over the ultimate three holes day-after-day this week – a double bogey on the sixteenth on Thursday, a bogey on the sixteenth on Friday, after which a bogey-par-bogey end.
He nonetheless had a 65, sits on 16 below, and will likely be within the last group with Straka on Sunday, one shot behind the Austrian.
Straka seized on the par 5s. Alongside along with his chip-in on the sixth gap, he holed an 18-foot eagle putt on the downwind, par-5 fifteenth. He additionally hit a 3-wood that landed completely in entrance of the inexperienced on the par-5 ninth that rolled out to fifteen toes for a two-putt birdie.
He trailed Scheffler by three photographs by way of 5 holes, and by two photographs with 4 holes left. However Straka was bogey-free on the day and completed at 18-under 198.
“He definitely got it going quick,” Straka mentioned of the world’s No 1 participant. “It didn’t look like he was going to miss a putt there for a little bit. But it’s golf, it usually evens out a lot and I just tried to focus on my own game.”
The one par 4 that Straka birdied was No 7, the place the tee was moved again. That stored gamers from attempting to drive the inexperienced and as an alternative examined them with a wedge to a harmful back-left pin. Straka took it on and hit it to seven toes.
Scheffler, who went left of the sixteenth fairway throughout the opening two rounds – a type of resulting in a penalty drop from a bush – this time discovered the quick grass and it wasn’t significantly better. He had an ungainly stance, tugged it left right into a bunker and the ball buried within the sand, resulting in bogey.
He additionally dropped a shot on the 18th by lacking the inexperienced to the fitting – water is left – leaving a difficult pitch up the slope.
“A few unfortunate breaks, but overall did some really good stuff,” Scheffler mentioned.
Alex Noren (67) and Hideki Matsuyama (68) are three photographs behind Straka, whereas JJ Spaun and Wyndham Clark every shot 69 and are 4 behind.
Watch continued protection of the Hero World Problem on Sky Sports activities Golf from 4.30pm on Sunday.
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