Scottie Scheffler goes on Sunday birdie binge, WM Phoenix Open three-peat is alive and well

Only one other golfer has won the event three straight years: Arnold Palmer.

SCOTTSDALE Ariz. — Scottie Scheffler won his first PGA Tour stop at the WM Phoenix Open two years ago.

Now he’s in prime position to be the first to win the event three years in a row at TPC Scottsdale.

Scheffler made five straight birdies on Nos. 9 through 13 in the resumption of his third round Sunday morning, the fourth time he’s done that in his career, to zoom up the leaderboard and get to 13 under, one stroke off the lead.

He bogeyed the 14th but then birdied the 16th to stay within a shot of first-round leader Nick Taylor, second-round leader Sahith Theegala and Charley Hoffman.

A few minutes later, he poured in a four-footer for birdie on the driveable par-4 17th to get to 14 under and forge a four-way tie for the lead. But he inexplicably putted off the green from 42 feet and into the bunker at 18 and made bogey to drop two strokes off the lead heading into the final round.

Arnold Palmer turned the hat trick in the ’60s but that was when the tournament was held at Phoenix Country Club.

The final round officially started at 10:15 a.m. local time (12:15 p.m. ET) with the third round still in progress on other parts of the course as tournament organizers decided not to re-order groups for the final round. The last group started their final rounds at about 12:15 p.m. local time.

Play was called due to darkness each of the first three days at 6:07 p.m. local time.

The Super Bowl in Las Vegas kicks off at 4:30 p.m. Arizona time, so the final round is likely to overrun the start of the big game.

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