He was challenged, threatened and at one point even tied, but at the end of the third round of Saturday’s Passenger Championship, Xander Schauffele barely maintained his lead over the rest of the field. On Sunday, he will get his first victory in an individual PGA Tour event since January 2019.
To put it in perspective, the last time Schauffele won the PGA Tour, Collin Morikawa, who now has six wins on the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour, was in California and still in eight events to become professional.
Schauffele leads Patrick Cantlay, who he joined for his last PGA Tour victory: a team victory at the Zurich Classic earlier this season. Cantlay shot up Saturday’s round and turned a five-time deficit at the start of round 3 into just a one-time difference for the final.
Here’s a look at how they played their third rounds and what to expect on Sunday.
The leader
1. Xander Schauffele (-17): Even in the last hole on Saturday, it looked like Schauffele could lose his lead. When he came out, he had five above Cantlay and four above a pair of first-teamers, and Schauffele started strong enough to maintain that lead. However, he stalled in the middle of his round, playing the first six holes in the second nine in 1.
He bounced back with birdies at numbers 16 and 17, the last of which nearly knocked over the pin, as well as a clutch putt at the last to keep his margin narrow. All in all, it was a pleasant day for Schauffele considering how many blows he absorbed from other contenders. If you can do this for two consecutive days you will determine the outcome of this tournament.
Think about it, too: According to Data Golf, Schauffele has entered the final round of a tournament at the top or has drawn seven times since the fall of 2015. In those seven exhibitions, he has won shots against what was expected of he in only two of them and won two of the seven. This is something to remember when you do it on Sunday afternoon.
Data golf
Other contenders
2. Patrick Cantlay (-16)
3. Sahith Theegala (-14)
4. Kevin Kisner (-13)
T5. Martin Laird, KH Lee (-12)
Cantlay is obviously the biggest contender in this group, and his 63 on Saturday was as easy as the 63. He was a zero putter (i.e., he did not win or lose blows on the field), and he led the field in blows. earned on approach as well as from the tee to the green.
Cantlay is not the best story in this group, though. This would be Theegala, who fought at the Phoenix Open early on this yearning and cried after failing to reach a playoff between, coincidentally, Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler, who won. He’s been playing fantastic golf for most of the year with no missed cuts from The Players in March and a recent top 10 at the Memorial. A win here for him would be a fabulous cover for a great rookie season (he would also become the second rookie to win the Tour this year).
An amateur defender
Amateur Michael Thorbjornsen, who is a 20-year-old rising to Stanford, shot 77-69 last week in Brookline to lose the cut in the U.S., but has recovered this week and is T7 after three rounds, six from behind. Schauffele. You probably won’t get a chance to step down to the top of this board and become the first fan in three decades to win a PGA Tour event, but the whole experience has been a delight for him and a pleasure to watch ’ l.
“I think one thing that could help is to win or get to second or third place, they don’t pay me in any way, so it’s just one more tournament for me,” Thorbjornsen said. “It’s just one more round of golf, just trying, again, to do the same thing I did today. Focus on my swing, just like making sure I get to certain positions and I guess I wouldn’t really regret it tomorrow. “.
He is paired with Webb Simpson in the final round.
Friends trip
Cantlay and Schauffele are famous fast friends and holiday friends. I don’t know if that helps or hurts them on Sunday in terms of winning this golf tournament, they both think it helps, but it will definitely be a topic of conversation. If the momentum goes in the right direction, we hope to see more shots as we did on Saturday at number 17.
“It’s going to be fun,” Schauffele said. “I wanted to play with Pat in a final round. We don’t get along very often in regular tournaments, only in team tournaments. So we have a certain level of comfort playing with each other and we hope that’s worth it and hopefully we can make a lot of birds. “
“I think it probably helps to play with him, as I know his game very well,” he added. “I can get a little club out of him, anyway. It’s going to be a lot of fun tomorrow. I’ve been looking forward to doing it with Pat not on a Tuesday.”
“It’s a pleasure to go out with Xander,” Cantlay said. “Actually, we haven’t played so much together in the tournament, maybe only three times in the last three or four years. So it’ll be good to get back with him. We hope they both play golf very well.”
Updated proposals and probabilities
Here’s a look at the updated odds with 18 holes to play, via Caesars Sportsbook.
- Xander Shovel: +110
- Patrick Cantlay: +130
- Sahith Theegala: 11-1
- Kevin Kisner: 20-1
- KH Lee: 30-1
- Scottie Scheffler: 50-1
- Webb Simpson: 50-1
- Martin Laird: 50-1
Give me Scheffler at 50-1 here. He’s seven years old but he’s totally capable of throwing a 61 or 62 on that golf course, which could certainly be enough. I don’t love Schauffele with +110, and if I had to pick one of the guys at the top, I would go with Cantlay to a slightly longer number, although Schauffele is a bit underrated when he plays from that position. I could also talk about Theegala, who is third on the field in tee-to-green shots (Scheffler is fourth).