Players R3 | Scottie Scheffler leads by two; Hoge BREAKS course record
Scottie Scheffler will take a two-shot lead going into the final round of the 2023 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
Scottie Scheffler will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the 2023 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
The 2022 Masters champion carded a third round of 7-under 65 to reach 14-under par in Florida.
It means he has a small but significant advantage over Australia's Min Woo Lee at the richest tournament ever on the PGA Tour.
If Scheffler were to win, he would become the third player in history to hold the Masters and Players title at the same time.
The other two? None other than Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Scheffler will also return to the World No.1 spot with a win.
Australia's Lee, who is the brother of LPGA Tour star Minjee Lee, 26, carded a 6-under 66. His round was highlighted by an eagle at the par-4 first.
Lee made bogey at his 54th hole of the week but it has been an otherwise stunning performance so far by the PGA Tour rookie.
Scheffler said:
It's tough to rank professional golf, and the OWGR has done a good job of that over long period of time, but at the end of the day for me, it's just an algorithm, and I'm going to go out there tomorrow and try and win the golf tournament.
The round of the day came from Tom Hoge, who carded a course record 10-under 62 at TPC Sawgrass. It was also bogey-free.
As many as nine players have previously carded rounds of 63 at the Stadium Course in competition.
Hoge, 33, is a one-time tour winner. That victory came in the 2022 QBE Shootout alongside Sahith Theegala.
He started on the back nine and made birdies at 11, 12, 15, 16 and 18. Returning home he found more birdies at 2, 3, 4 and 8 and 9.
Hoge, who made the cut on the number, said:
Australia's Cameron Davis is four strokes back of Scheffler in outright third.
A host of players are grouped at 9-under par. That includes England's Tommy Fleetwood who like Scheffler carded a 65.
Aaron Rai is also on the same score as Fleetwood through 54 holes. He made a hole-in-one at 17 and sent the crowd into ecstasy.
Rai finished birdie-eagle-birdie to card a 65.
One of the tournament favourites, Rory McIlroy, missed the cut. Matthew Fitzpatrick also missed out on the weekend.
The pre-tournament favourite, Jon Rahm, withdrew through illness.
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