Buckle up.
The PGA Tour’s return after a 13-week COVID-19 pandemic break will end with a Sunday stampede to the plaid jacket and the championship hardware in the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
On moving day Saturday, it seemed most everyone ended up on the first page of the leaderboard. At the sun-drenched day’s end, world No. 12 Xander Schauffele was alone at the top but had plenty of company on his heels.
Schauffele signed for a 4-under-par 66 to stand at 13 under through 54 holes. That placed him one shot clear of five players – reigning U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland (66); world No. 4 Justin Thomas (66); Branden Grace (66), who holds the record for the lowest round in major championship history, a 62 at Royal Birkdale in the 2017 Open Championship; Collin Morikawa (67), who hasn’t missed a cut in 21 starts since turning pro; and Jordan Spieth (68), who won here in 2017 and finished runner-up in 2016 and 2018.
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Two shots back are 36-hole leader Harold Varner III (70) and Daniel Berger (67), who has shot par or better in his last 27 Tour rounds. Six players will start the final round three shots out of the lead, among them No. 1 Rory McIlroy (69), No. 13 Bryson DeChambeau, No. 7 and past Masters champion Patrick Reed (63), and 2018 Colonial winner Justin Rose (68).
That’s 14 players within three shots of each other.
“You get a field like this, it definitely has a major feel,” Woodland said. “You’ve got a lot of the top players in the world, and everybody is playing well. I think everybody is excited to be out here, and with no fans here, you get some big names up there that you definitely get the juices going.
“You’ve got to go out there and play well. You’ve got to play aggressive. The greens are receptive. You’ve got to drive the golf ball in the fairway and you’re going to have to make birdies. There’s too many guys up at the top, too many great players. You’re going to have to go out and earn it tomorrow.”
Playing in the final group, Spieth was the solo leader for much of the day but he didn’t produce a birdie in his last nine holes. Still, his 68 was much better than his Saturday blues of the past two years, where third rounds were his undoing.
“Today was a day where I look at the last couple years and potentially say that would have been a 2 or 3 over and taken me all the way out of the tournament,” said Spieth, the former world No. 1 looking for his first win since the 2017 Open. “I feel comfortable going into tomorrow that I can shoot a good score. If it happens, it happens, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.
“But I learned a bit about what was going on when I really felt kind of the nerves kick in today, and hopefully compensate for that tomorrow and hit some better shots. Should be really fun tomorrow. Golf is kind of the only thing on TV tomorrow, and hopefully there can be a fun shootout with the number of guys, and hopefully I can be one of them.”
McIlroy, who has six top-5 finishes in six starts this season, including a win in the WGC-HSBC Champions last fall, had an off day but remains in right in the hunt.
“Started pretty similar to the first day, a little scrappy,” McIlroy, who has shot 68-63-69. “I had a couple of loose iron shots on the 7th and the 8th, which cost me bogeys there. I guess I didn’t feel like I played very well today, but looking at the leaderboard, no one else really pulled away.
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“I’m still going to be within striking distance going into tomorrow. If that’s a bad day out of the way, then hopefully I can post a good one tomorrow.”
And Rose, world No. 14, 2016 Olympics gold medalist and a winner at Colonial by three shots over Brooks Koepka in 2018, said Sunday’s victor will have to make some noise despite no spectators being allowed.
“It’s going to feel different for everybody, but it’s going to feel just as rewarding to win,” he said. “You’re going to have to beat a great field and it’s going to be a good leaderboard to contest against, and whoever wins tomorrow is going to have to go out and play some good golf. From that point of view, that’s all we’re looking at.
“Ultimately we all need to break down the golf course week in and week out and that doesn’t change tomorrow.”
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