While 54-hole leader Hideki Matsuyama seemingly made everything on the greens, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler could not buy a bucket.
That is why Scheffler faces a seven-shot deficit going into the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship. The reigning Masters champion lost 1.5 strokes on the greens, ranking 61st among the 70-player field on Saturday. He even expressed a rare burst of frustration on the 12th hole, slamming the face of his putter into his hand after another missed birdie try.
Scheffler missed four birdie putts inside of 12 feet. He made only 53 feet of putts overall—with almost half of that coming on the par-3 11th, where he poured in a 24-footer for birdie. But that was the only putt Scheffler made over five feet.
“I did hit a couple of lips, but I didn’t feel like I was hitting it too good,” Scheffler assessed.
“There were times where I felt like I was getting away with some stuff, hitting some good pitches, making some good saves, but I felt like I hit a lot of lips today. But yeah, it happens.”
Still, he managed to post a 1-under 69, a day that included four birdies and three bogies. Yet, if he wants to threaten Matsuyama on Sunday, he believes he has to give himself better looks on the greens.
“Just get the ball a little bit closer to the hole and give myself more opportunities,” Scheffler added.
“Today I felt like, like I said, I got away with some stuff, so hopefully, clean it up a little bit and give myself a lot of more opportunities today.”
Matsuyama holds a commanding five-shot lead over rookie Nick Dunlap, who sits in solo second at 12-under. Viktor Hovland, meanwhile, posted a 4-under 66 on Saturday to move up the leaderboard to 11-under and into solo third.
Then there is Scheffler, who has made big comebacks before. He trailed Xander Schauffele by five strokes at The Players Championship and fired an 8-under 64 to win by one. Then, Scheffler carded one of the best rounds of his career in Paris, shooting a 9-under 62 to overcome a four-shot deficit to win the gold medal.
But seven could be too much to overcome. That said, Scheffler remains optimistic about his chances since TPC Southwind has 11 holes with water in play.
“It’s a golf course where there’s opportunity and there’s a lot of trouble,” Scheffler said.
“It’s going to be tough to close it out on the back nine. There’s a lot of water coming down the stretch. So try to get off to a good start, and Hideki is obviously playing some fantastic golf, but do my best to put a little bit of pressure on him and see what happens.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
