DUBLIN: Scottie Scheffler recovered from a disastrous hole midway through the third round of The Memorial and regained control with a 1-under par 71 on Saturday in Dublin, Ohio.
Scheffler, the world's No. 1 golfer, will take a four-shot lead into today's final round at Muirfield Village Golf Club. He's 10 under for the tournament.
Canada's Adam Hadwin shot 72, slipping into a three-way tie for second place at 6 under. Collin Morikawa made a big move by shooting 68, joining Austria's Sepp Straka (68) and Hadwin in second place.
Scheffler and Hadwin both bogeyed the final hole.
Scheffler played the first six holes at 2 under, but a triple-bogey 7 on No. 9 sent him cascading back to the pack and erased his three-shot lead. That troublesome hole began with a tee shot into the trees.
His three-shot lead vanished, but it didn't take long to move back ahead. Scheffler got back on track with a birdie on No. 10. That began a stretch of three birdies in six holes.
While any trouble for Scheffler generally seems unusual, he also had a triple-bogey in his most-recent tournament two weeks ago in the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge.
He had been at 11 under for the tournament after Saturday's sixth hole, where his approach shot from a fairway bunker set up a birdie putt.
Morikawa had a bogey-less round. Three of his four birdies came in a stretch from No. 12-15.
Norway's Viktor Hovland, the tournament's 2023 champion, was in good shape through seven holes at 2 under. Then came a seven-hole stretch with five bogeys, including four beginning on No. 11. Later, he tumbled deeper down the standings with a double-bogey 6 on the 16th hole.
PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele (71) and Sweden's Ludvig Aberg (72) share fifth place at 4 under.
The best round of the third round belonged to South Korea's Sungjae Im at 67, but he's tied for 11th at 2 under. - REUTERS