Scottie Scheffler definitely regarded just like the number-one ranked participant on the earth Saturday.
His 6-under 64 vaulted him to the highest of the BMW Championship leaderboard, as he and Matthew Fitzpatrick sit at 11-under by way of 54 holes.
Scheffler began his spherical with back-to-back birdies on the par-5 1st and par-4 2nd. These two par-breakers served as a harbinger of issues to come back.
On the again 9, he made 4 birdies, together with three straight on the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth holes.
That three-hole stretch is the place Scheffler made his transfer up the leaderboard.
When he walked off the ninth inexperienced, the place he made his solely bogey of the day, Scheffler sat at 7-under for the match.
By the point he arrived on the brief par-3 thirteenth, Scheffler had bought it to 10-under and was in a share of the lead.
However his shot of the day got here on the par-5 fifteenth, the place the previous Texas Longhorn determined to take a driver off the deck.
The CBS Sports activities tracker famous that Scheffler’s second shot on the fifteenth reached an apex of 31 ft, however it didn’t even look that prime.
“I haven’t hit driver off the deck as a lot with this driver as I’ve drivers prior to now,” Scheffler admitted after his spherical.
“The shot is actually formed nicely for that form of play. It’s only a low lower. I attempted it the primary day simply because I believed it might be enjoyable, and I hit a reasonably good shot, after which I did it once more at the moment as a result of it was enjoyable.”
Alas, his ‘enjoyable’ shot hurried as much as the entrance of the inexperienced, main to a different birdie.
By then, Scheffler was 11-under and briefly held a share of the lead till Fitzpatrick made an excellent birdie of his personal on the fifteenth within the group behind him.
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The 2022 Masters champion then cooled off over his closing three holes as he hit a few wayward tee photographs off the seventeenth and 18th tees. However he made two terrific par saves on each of these holes, thus sustaining his momentum heading into the ultimate spherical.
Ought to Scheffler go on to win the BMW Championship, he’ll head to East Lake ranked first within the FedEx Cup standings. That will be an enormous deal as a result of whoever is in first begins the Tour Championship at 10-under par because of the handicapped format.
However Scheffler is just not too involved about that fairly but.
“It was Saturday out right here, so I’m not likely too involved about subsequent week,” Scheffler stated. “I used to be simply making an attempt to have a superb spherical of golf and simply attempt to transfer my method up the leaderboard.”
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter @jack_milko for extra golf protection. Remember to take a look at @_PlayingThrough too.