PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The sunshine was bright and hot which meant Saturday at The Players Championship was ripe for beers in the morning, sunglasses and sundresses, and the smell of smoke from both cigars and barbecue. It was moving day at TPC Sawgrass and the vibes were high.
There was a one-two punch potential for some serious Canadian action, but neither Corey Conners or Nick Taylor could recover completely from less-than-stellar starts and won’t be in the conversation for Sunday’s finale.
However, the PGA Tour — with 2024 so far being the year of long-shots — couldn’t have drawn up a better Sunday showdown, with two of the tour’s top names sitting 1-2 on the leaderboard.
Xander Schauffele, who talked Friday about wanting to be in the final group for the third round alongside Wyndham Clark (who had a four-shot advantage through 36 holes) in order to put some pressure on him, shot a 7-under 65 in the third round and now leads by one over Clark, a fellow top-10 ranked golfer in the world, through 54 holes.
Schauffele was bogey free on Saturday and matched his 7-under opener from Thursday. His short game was dialled — he sat third in strokes gained: putting for the day and fourth in strokes gained: around the green — and needed just 23 putts on Saturday. The highlight came on the par-4 14th when he drained a 58-footer for his seventh, and final, birdie of the day.
Now Schauffele, who is looking for his first win on Tour since 2022, has an opportunity to top Clark in the final round of The Players Championship, the crown-jewel event of the PGA Tour, and rob him of a fourth win in just 10 months.
“I love my job. I love playing golf and competing,” Schauffele said. “All in all, it was a bit of a grind. Wind was swirling a little bit for both of us, for everyone out there on the back nine. Just was happy to stay in it and move on moving day.”
Clark was tied with Schauffele late in the day before he hit a horrific tee shot on the iconic par-3 17th at TPC Sawgrass — and ended up in the water. His third shot was exceptional, landing just six feet away, and he managed to save bogey. Although he’s gone from four up to one down heading into the final round, he still feels comfortable with where he’s at — and his game.
“I think everyone kind of has one round where they have to really grind it out and make those par putts and bogey putts or whatever it is. I felt like that was today,” Clark said. “I'm hoping tomorrow I'll wake up laser locked-in, focused and can go have an awesome round and hopefully have a great finish here.”
While the PGA Tour is certainly chuffed with how the final-round leaderboard is shaping up at its biggest event — last year’s Open Champion, Brian Harman, is third, while fellow top-10 ranked golfer Matt Fitzpatrick is tied for fourth, Netflix darling Sahith Theegala is tied with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler for sixth, and Rory McIlroy is tied for 12th alongside superstar-in-waiting Ludvig Aberg — the Canadians unfortunately will have to wait for another big event for a big result.
Conners and Taylor were the only two golfers in the top 30 on the leaderboard who were over-par for their third rounds. Taylor shot a 4-over 40 for his first nine holes and couldn’t recover on his back nine, ending with a 4-over 76.
Conners made a double bogey on his first hole after advancing his second shot just six feet. He told Sportsnet he did try to re-set himself after his tough opening hole, but he missed birdie putts of less than 10 feet on both No. 9 and 10 and struggled off the tee, hitting just three fairways all day.
“It was a challenging day I just drove it really poorly,” Conners admitted. “I just struggled to get the ball in the fairway off the tee. Honestly I didn’t score it that bad from the positions I was in off the tee, I just didn’t give myself any good opportunities.”
Conners is at 7 under and tied for 24th while Taylor is 6 under and tied for 29th.
Mackenzie Hughes was the other Canadian to make the cut.
Hughes went 4 under for his first nine holes, including an eagle on the par-5 2nd, but made three bogeys in a five-holes stretch on the back nine. He shot a 3-under 69 and is 4 under for the week. He’s tied for 44th.
Hughes told Sportsnet he felt he was in control off the tee, but he hasn’t been able to capitalize on some scoring opportunities for the second week in a row.
“It was one of those days where I wish I could have taken it pretty low, and we had the conditions to do it so a little disappointed,” Hughes said. “But, speaking about my game, I feel like my game is in a good spot.”
Ben Silverman had a chance to join Hughes, Conners, and Taylor for two more rounds, but he came out first thing Saturday morning and, needing to dunk a wedge shot from 109 yards for an eagle, made a poor attempt at it and fell short of making the cut.
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