Scottie Scheffler hones a bunker shot into the water.
He pulled a puck that hit a tree trunk and bounced out of bounds.
He three-putted on his last hole.
And yet, Scheffler still leads the Memorial Tournament by four strokes through 54 holes at Muirfield Village as the world No. 1 looks to win for the fifth time this year, the first since the RBC Heritage in early April.
“Overall, I think I played pretty solid, I just had a couple of bad chances and this is going to happen at this golf course,” said Scheffler, whose 1-under 71 moved him to 10 under, four ahead of Collin Morikawa (68). Sepp Straka (68) and Adam Hadwin (72). “I mean, the golf course is really challenging. “You won’t always have good opportunities, you won’t always have good lies.”
Scheffler, who led by three strokes after two rounds, birdied two of his first four holes on Saturday. He then hit his second shot on the par-5 fifth into a bunker about 45 yards from the hole and caught his third shot “a little thin,” Scheffler’s ball ending up over the green and into the penalty area. He would follow through with the bogey and play all four par 5s into a combined even par.
After bouncing back with a birdie on the sixth, Scheffler ran into more trouble on the par-4 ninth. Scheffler called the drive a “slight pull” that would have ended up perhaps 15 yards left of the fairway had he not hit the tree trunk, which sent the ball out of bounds and caused a triple bogey.
“I was just frustrated,” Scheffler said. “It was like I hadn’t taken many shots today off the line, I had a three on my card and suddenly I was 1 over par. So, I was definitely frustrated with the break, but overall, I thought, I’m still doing great, I didn’t need to change anything, I just need to stay in the right frame of mind.”
Again Scheffler recovered with birdie. He would also add birdies on Nos. 12 and 15. A triple putt from 64 feet on the 18th soured his back nine, but only slightly, and did little to take away from the fact that Scheffler is a heavy (-450) favorite for heading into Sunday at Jack’s Place.
Scheffler has converted each of his last four 54-hole solo leads on Tour into wins after starting his career 1-for-4.
“I don’t really change anything,” Scheffler said. “I’m going to go out tomorrow and try to play a good round of golf, keep my head down and stay in my own little world. “I’m not really going to pay attention to what other people are doing, I’m just going to try to do the best I can.”
As he showed on Saturday, he may not even do his best.
“I think he’s head and shoulders above the number one player in the world, especially after watching him today,” Hadwin said. “Obviously, there were a couple of holes where some things didn’t go the way he wanted, but the way he started and the way, like the sound with which he hits, the flight of the ball and the way of the shots.. .
“I mean, I don’t expect him to lose this golf tournament.”