LOS ANGELES (AFP) — World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, chasing a third straight US PGA Tour title, rebounded from a late double-bogey with back-to-back birdies to join a five-way tie for the lead at the Houston Open on Saturday.
For the second day in a row Scheffler had a double-bogey on his card, but the American’s four-under par 66 was enough to put him atop the board on nine-under 201 alongside England’s David Skinns, Germany’s Stephan Jaeger, Argentina’s Alejandro Tosti and Belgian Thomas Detry.
Skinns had five birdies in his bogey-free 65 at Memorial Park, Jaeger had six birdies and two bogeys in his four-under 66, Tosti shook off an early double-bogey with five birdies in a two-under 68 and Detry had four birdies and a bogey in his three-under 67.
Scheffler, who was frustrated to end his second round on Friday with a double-bogey at 18, had six birdies and a bogey in his first 12 holes to cruise to the top of the leaderboard at 10-under.
He was tied for the lead after a bogey at 13 and ran afoul of the short par-three 15th — which played as the toughest hole on the course on Saturday.
Scheffler’s tee shot hit the green some six feet from the hole but spun off the putting surface and into the water.
He would take double-bogey to drop two shots off the pace, but responded by reaching the green in two on the way to a birdie at the par-five 16th and drilling a four and a half foot birdie putt at 17.
“(I) feel like I did a lot of stuff really well out there today,” Scheffler said. “Feel like I played better than my score.”
“I had a few shots I didn’t really get rewarded for and somewhat punished for some pretty good shots.”
“Overall it was nice to finish with those two birdies. Hit a really good shot into 16, good shot into 17 — yeah, felt like I did a lot of things well today.”
Defending champion Tony Finau, who shot to the top of the leaderboard with a 62 on Friday, carded a two-over 72 to fall into a group on 203 that also included England’s Aaron Rai, Max Greyserman and Chad Ramey.
