Morning rise: Scottie Scheffler opens up 6-stroke lead at Tour Championship, FedEx Cup title in his sights


ATLANTA – When play was suspended on Saturday, Scottie Scheffler was fighting his swing, if not the pressure of trying to clinch his fifth win of the season at the Tour Championship, the FedEx Cup and $18 million in bonus money from the season-long competition, not to mention the PGA Tour Player of the Year award. His lead was down to a single stroke.

But Sunday represented a new day and a fresh start, and Scheffler took advantage. He made birdie at his first hole of the morning, No. 13, and closed his weather-interrupted third round with four birdies in his final six holes to open up a six-stroke lead on Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy. Scheffler signed for 4-under 66 at East Lake Golf Club and improved to 23 under for the tournament.

Schauffele, in contrast, never found his rhythm, making bogey at 14 and all pars to shoot even-par 70, tying his worst score in 23 rounds at East Lake.

“Shooting even par out here on Tour is never going to get it done, unless it’s blowing 100 miles an hour,” said Schauffele, who blamed a cold putter, and added, “that’s the worst I’ve ever putted here.”

Rory McIlroy completed a round of 7-under 63 to tie Schauffele at 17 under. McIlroy is bidding to become the first player to win the FedEx Cup three times. He and Scheffler will be in the final pairing, teeing off at 1:50 p.m. ET Sunday.

Sungjae Im and Patrick Cantlay, the defending FedEx Cup champion, both shot 66 and are tied for fourth at 16 under.

Schauffele summed up the prevailing sentiment that the chasers will try to carry into the final round in hopes of tracking down Scheffler.

“You’ve got nothing to lose. There’s no target on your back,” Schauffele said. “Fortunately I’ve been on both sides of that now, so I need to tap into some older wins that I’ve had.”



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