Scottie Scheffler hits stunning 63 to race into RBC Heritage lead
Scottie Scheffler moves into the lead on day three as he goes in search of yet more history on the PGA Tour.
Scottie Scheffler fired a stunning 8-under 63 in the third round to vault into a one-shot lead at the RBC Heritage.
Scheffler, 27, started the day three shots off the pace but eight birdies on day three saw him move straight to the top of the leaderboard.
The World No.1 finds himself at 16-under par for 54 holes and one shot clear of Austria's Sepp Straka.
Collin Morikawa is a further shot back in third.
Scheffler raced out the blocks on Saturday with three birdies on the first five holes, and he then added further birdies at 7 and 9 to go out in 31.
He then added three more birdies with a minimum of fuss on the back nine to come home in 32 for a round of 63.
That marked the low round of the day.
Scheffler's round of 63 marks his best round on the PGA Tour since his third-round 63 at the 2023 Travelers Championship where he went on to finish T4.
He also now has an active streak of 38 par-or-better rounds going to open the 2024 season.
That is still some way off the record (52) set by, yes you guessed it, Tiger Woods.
Going right at it for the outright lead 🎯
Scottie Scheffler is the solo leader @RBC_Heritage. pic.twitter.com/XCjQ5DXvHl— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 20, 2024
Scheffler, who won his second Masters in three years last week, is now going in search of four wins in his last five starts on the PGA Tour.
Should Scheffler go on to win the RBC Heritage on Sunday, he would become the second player in the history of the game to win both The Masters and RBC Heritage in the same season.
Germany's Bernhard Langer did that in 1985 when slipping on the green jacket a week before going on to win at Hilton Head.
A win would also see Scheffler join Langer (1985 Sea Pines Heritage), Gary Player (1978 Tournament of Champions) and Jimmy Demaret (1950 North Fulton Open) to win The Masters and the event the following week.
Scheffler remains on baby watch as his wife Meredith is expecting their first child.
But the due date is not for another week or so, according to Scheffler.
As for Scheffler's energy levels heading into the final round, he admits he is hanging in there.
"I wasn't tired out on the course today, the energy among the fans was great out there... but I do feel a bit tired now," said Scheffler, who will take the next few weeks off to be with Meredith and their new arrival ahead of the US PGA Championship from 16-19 May.
Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy carded a second consecutive round of 68 to progress to 10-under par, but that is six shots off the pace.
McIlroy had an unfortunate break on the 8th when his ball somehow didn't go down for an eagle-two - WATCH HERE
This week's RBC Heritage is the fifth signature event of eight this season.
The prize fund of the RBC Heritage is $20m and the winner walks away with $3.6m.
RBC Heritage Third Round Leaderboard
-16 S Scheffler (US)
-15 S Straka (Aut)
-14 C Morikawa (US)
-13 S Theegala, P Rodgers (US), L Aberg (Swe)