Scottie Scheffler shot 2-under-par 68 to maintain the lead Saturday in the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, Tenn., as he aims for his first victory since January.
Scheffler moved to 13-under 197 for a two-stroke lead on Sam Burns and South Korea’s Sunjae Im at TPC Southwind, where the opening event of the FedEx Cup playoffs is taking place.
Burns rose into contention with a bogey-free 62 that included three consecutive birdies at one point.
Im, who was Scheffler’s playing partner Saturday, posted 67. For the second round in the tournament, Im had a better score than Scheffler.
This is the first of three tournaments in the PGA Tour’s postseason. The top 50 players in terms of season-long points advanced to next week’s BMW Championship. Scheffler entered this week atop the points standings.
Scheffler hasn’t won since his first tournament (The American Express) of the season yet remains the World No. 1 as he has produced 11 top-10 finishes. His first bogey of the third round came on the fourth hole, and he didn’t post his first birdie of the day until No. 8.
He had another bogey at No. 17 after his approach shot went into a bunker, so he has dealt with a pair of bogeys in both the second and third rounds.
Jake Knapp (67) and England’s Tommy Fleetwood (68) are tied for fourth place at 8 under.
Brian Harman (69), South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (65), Sweden’s Alex Noren (66) and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (67) are all at 7 under.
Norway’s Viktor Hovland briefly caught up to Scheffler before a horrendous stretch that resulted in a 72. He tumbled to a tie for 10th place at 6 under.
Hovland played the ninth through 15th holes in 5 over — and that came with a birdie on No. 11. Two wayward shots on the par-4 12th resulted in a pair of penalty strokes and he carded 6 on the hole.
Jordan Speith, who was a first-round co-leader, also shot 72 on Saturday. He’s at 4 under and tied for 19th.
