DUBLIN, Ohio — Scottie Scheffler felt he was hitting all the right shots and only had 13 straight pars to show for it Saturday on a tough day at the Memorial. As usual, he had a powerful finishing kick, and the world’s No. 1 player wound up in a familiar spot.
Scheffler, six shots behind when he made the turn, had four birdies over the last five holes for a 4-under 68 at Muirfield Village, giving him a one-shot lead when Ben Griffin missed a 3-foot par putt on the final hole.
“I don’t know what the scoring average was today, but I was definitely proud of the way I finished and it was really challenging,” Scheffler said. “Through 13 holes, I felt like I was playing really good and I was only even par. Just a hard course.”
And it became a hard task for everyone chasing him. Scheffler has won the past eight times when he had the 54-hole lead, including two weeks ago at the PGA Championship. He goes after his third win in his past four starts.
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No one is throwing in the towel, not with five players within five shots of the lead when so much can happen so quickly at Muirfield Village, as Saturday showed.
And that starts with Griffin, who won his first individual PGA Tour title at Colonial last week and didn’t sound the least bit bothered that Scheffler was the guy he was chasing.
“Obviously, Scottie Scheffler’s the best player in the world, but No. 1 can be beat,” Griffin said. “I feel like right now … you know, I beat him last week. Obviously, he’s coming off a major win. But, yeah, I feel like he obviously can be beaten, and I’ve just got to keep the pedal down and make a lot of birdies because I know he’s going to, as well.”
The scoring average for the 57 players who made the cut was 73.9, and three players failed to break 80. Scheffler, the only player to break par all three rounds, was at 8-under 208.
Griffin became the only player this week to reach 10-under par when he ran off three straight birdies starting at No. 6. And then he gave it all back with four straight bogeys, three of those bogeys from either the fairway or the tee box.
Scheffler was lurking, as always. He has an uncanny knack of hanging around and winding up with the low score by the end of the day. This was no exception.
“I did see that Ben got to 10 under, but it’s not going to change my play in the middle of a Saturday,” Scheffler said. “This golf course is really challenging and no lead’s safe around this place. I knew if I kept going and played a decent round, I would be in somewhat of a position to chase him down tomorrow.”
He holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 14th — his first of the day — followed getting on the collar of the green at the par-5 15th for a simple birdie. He hit 7-iron into the wind to 8 feet for birdie and closed with one last birdie from just inside 15 feet that ultimately gave him the lead.
He’s no longer chasing, and he’s a tough customer to track down.
Jordan Spieth also was in the chase, tied with Scheffler in second place at one point, until he failed to save par from a bunker on the 17th and drove into the creek on the 18th for a closing bogey and a 72. He was five shots behind, feeling better about his game.
There was just one problem. Spieth talked about the fun of being in the mix, of making six birdies on a tough course, of needing to keep moving in that direction. And then he paused.
“The bummer for me is Scottie’s at 7 or 8 [under] and he just … you can’t count on him shooting even tomorrow,” Spieth said. “So it would take something special. But all in all, just trying to shoot a few under each day out here.”
Nick Taylor of Canada wound up three shots behind after a 74, and for that he was thankful at the end. Taylor went into the water and made double bogey on the diabolical par-3 12th, followed that with a bogey and was sliding out of contention. And then he holed out from fairway for eagle at the 14th, birdied the next hole and played that four-stretch in even par.
The best round belonged to Sepp Straka, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour this year. He posted a 66 as the leaders were just getting started and was in the group at 3-under 213 that included Spieth and Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley (68).
Patrick Cantlay and Rickie Fowler each shot 69 and joined Shane Lowry (73) at 214. It’s a long way off, and it can feel even longer with Scheffler the one they are chasing.
“It’s a tough golf course. I’ll be trying to chase him down,” Taylor said. “He’s obviously playing phenomenal, so I’ll have to play some of my best golf to be in the hunt there with the last few holes to go. But it is playing so difficult that being a few under early will get me back in there.”
