Scottie Scheffler produced a surprising late birdie burst to capitalise on a mid-round wobble from Ben Griffin and take a one-shot lead into the ultimate spherical of the Memorial Match.
The world No 1, who opened with 13 consecutive pars on Saturday, birdied 4 of his 5 holes to submit a four-under 68 and card his first bogey-free spherical ever at Muirfield Village.
The quick end lifted Scheffler to eight underneath and one forward of midway co-leader Griffin, with the FedExCup chief now in prime place to observe his PGA Championship success with a 3rd PGA Tour win in 4 begins.
Scheffler will play within the ultimate spherical alongside Griffin, who briefly went 5 strokes forward earlier than 4 consecutive bogeys across the flip and a dropped shot on the final left him settling for a level-par 72.
Canada’s Nick Taylor is three strokes again in third spot on 5 underneath, with Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley an additional two photographs adrift in a share of fourth place with Jordan Spieth and Sepp Straka.
How Scheffler edged forward at Muirfield Village
Griffin made his cost when he adopted a 15-foot birdie on the sixth by profiting from the par-five subsequent and selecting up one other shot on the par-three eighth, taking him to 10 underneath, solely to see his fortunes drastically change with 4 consecutive bogeys from the ninth.
The American reclaimed his benefit after holing from 10 toes on the 14th and including one other birdie on the subsequent, however Scheffler – enjoying within the group forward – additionally made birdies on the identical two holes.
Ben Griffin has already received twice on the PGA Tour this season
Scheffler made putts from eight toes and 15 toes to supply a birdie-birdie end and set the clubhouse goal, with the three-time main champion then claiming the outright lead when Griffin missed from three toes to save lots of par on the final.
“Around this golf course even par, I think, today would have been a pretty solid score,” mentioned Scheffler, trying to defend his title after final 12 months’s victory. “I felt like I could have gotten a little bit more out of the round, but I felt like I was playing nice.
Scheffler carded 4 birdies in a bogey-free third spherical
“Just a couple lips here and there would have changed the score a little bit, but overall, I felt like I was doing good stuff. I didn’t feel like I needed to change much.”
Taylor instantly misplaced his lead after a bogey-bogey begin and was 5 over for his spherical till an eagle-birdie burst on his again 9, lifting him to 5 underneath, whereas Straka fired a round-of-the-day 66 to leap inside 5 of the lead as he bids for a 3rd win of the season.
Rickie Fowler, Patrick Cantlay and Shane Lowry share seventh on two underneath, whereas Justin Rose’s title problem ended after he undid his second-round 66 with an eight-over 80 on Saturday.
Who will win the Memorial Match? Watch early protection of the ultimate spherical on Sunday from 4.30pm on Sky Sports activities Golf forward of full protection from 6pm. Not bought Sky? Get Sky Sports activities or stream with NOW.
