McKINNEY – As if his six-shot lead wasn’t commanding enough as he stepped to the first tee at 3:15 p.m. Saturday, most other intangibles strongly tilted in his favor.
He is ranked No. 1 in the world and has 13 career wins. His playing partners and closest pursuers, Sam Stevens and Ricky Castillo, respectively, rank 91st and 241st and have no wins.
Photos from moving day at CJ Cup Byron Nelson
View GalleryThen came the starter‘s introduction, not that he needs one here.
“Please welcome, from Dallas, Texas, the current Olympic gold medalist and FedEx champion, Scottie Scheffler!”
To no one’s surprise, Highland Park High product Scheffler shot a 5-under 66 Saturday at TPC Craig Ranch and will carry an eight-shot cushion over Erik van Rooyan and Adam Schenk into Sunday’s final round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
It’s the largest 54-hole in a PGA Tour event since Rory McIlroy’s eight-shot advantage entering the final round of the 2011 U.S. Open.
“I did a good job getting it around [Saturday],” Scheffler said. “I definitely wasn’t as sharp as I was the last two days, but overall I posted a pretty good score.
“Over a 72-hole tournament you’re going to have days, or typically at least one day, where your swing’s not firing on all cylinders like it was the first two days. It’s all about how you battle through that. [Saturday] I did a good job and hopefully [Sunday] I’ll swing a little better.”
Because Friday’s six-hour rain delay caused most of the field to finish their second rounds Saturday, the third round’s final group didn’t finish until dusk.
Related:Davis Riley self-reports improper use of distance-measuring device at CJ Cup Byron Nelson
In fact, Scheffler said that after he hit his approach shot on 18, he couldn’t see where it went, only that it went in its intended direction. But the final group was determined the finish, reasoning that it would be worse to have to come back early Sunday to play one hole, then wait multiple hours to play the fourth round.
“I couldn’t see very well, but I finished in the dark many times growing up,” Scheffler said. “It’s not that big of a deal.
At 23-under for the tournament, barring an uncharacteristic over-par round and Arnold Palmer-like charge from a pursuer, Scheffler will add a rare descriptor to his intro at next year‘s Nelson.
Reigning champion. How rare would that be? In the 57 years since Byron Nelson’s name was added to this tournament, only one local high school product has won: W.T. White’s Scott Verplank in 2007.
“It would mean a lot,” Scheffler said. “This tournament has been good to me over the years. It was my first professional start in 2014. They gave me a spot when I was in high school. … This tournament means a lot to me. I grew up coming out here to watch.
“[Sunday] should be a fun day and a good opportunity for me to go out and have a good round and hopefully win a tournament.”
He also would become only the third wire-to-wire Nelson winner, joining Mark Hayes (1976) and Tom Watson (1980).
Many Dallas-area products have tried and come close to winning the Nelson, including Jesuit’s Jordan Spieth, who finished second in 2022, one shot behind K.H. Lee.
On Saturday, Spieth shot 67, closing with an eagle on No. 18, to finish the round in a 23rd-place tie as he continues to show progress coming off last year‘s wrist surgery.
“I want to win this golf tournament, but I come out here and I feel maybe less pressure than I did in those first couple years, where it was like life or death when I was 16, 17 [years old],” Spieth said on The Golf Channel after Saturday’s round.
In two weeks, Spieth will enter the PGA Championship with an opportunity to duplicate Rory McIlroy’s feat at last month’s Masters by completing the career grand slam.
“I’ve got a big stretch coming up and I got off to a late start this year, and been kind of minorly improving each each week,” Spieth said. “So I’m just trying to kind of enjoy the week, just the fact that I’m here at home and I have so many friends out, get my family out on the course and stuff.”
Scheffler missed last year‘s Nelson while he and wife Meredith awaited the birth of their son, Bennett. As he cruised through Saturday’s round, Scheffler paused coming off the 13th green to greet Meredith and Bennett.
Scheffler built his big 36-hole lead by shooting the lowest score in both the first (61) and second (63) rounds, marking the fourth time in tournament history that someone opened with rounds of 64-64 or better.
The other occasions were Jake Knapp last year (64-64), Scheffler in 2023 (64-64) and Tiger Woods in 1997 (64-64).
Of those previous years, only Woods won. Then again, Scheffler‘s six-shot advantage after 36 holes was the largest in Nelson history. When he opened with those 64s two years ago, his lead was only one shot; and he fell behind by two with a 71 on Saturday.
This Saturday was dramatically different. Scheffler‘s lead never dipped below five strokes. On multiple occasions he pushed the advantage to seven and then his 18th hole birdie pushed the advantage to eight.
But he did finally prove to be human. Entering the third round, only Scheffler and Stevens had failed to bogey a hole all week.
Scheffler actually blinked first, posting a bogey on No. 4 Saturday. On the par-4 11th, he again wobbled – posting his first five of the week.
Those are, of course, merely quibbles. Stevens extended his bogey-free run to 43 holes, but then made bogeys on four of the next five holes.
Scheffler recovered from his back-nine lull with birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and a birdie in near-darkness on the par 5 18th.
On No. 14 he drove the 319-yard par 4 and two-putted from 15 feet. On the par 3 15th, Scheffler hit it closer to the pin than anyone in the field on Saturday – three feet, eight inches – and tapped in the birdie to get to 22-under.
“We’re on a golf course where you’ve got to make some birdies,” Scheffler said. “I feel like I’m trending in the right direction.”
No kidding. By late Sunday afternoon, he almost assuredly will get that first victory of the season – and add an elusive title to his resume: Reigning hometown champion.
Find more golf coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
