Louisville (US), May 19 (PTI) Indian-American Sahith Theegala put himself in perfect position to make a bid for his maiden Major, as he was the sole third and one shot behind leaders Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa after three rounds of the 106th PGA Championships here.
After 65-67 on first two days, Theegala turned in a 67 on third to be 14-under as Morikawa (67) — winner of 2002 PGA and 2021 Open — and Schauffele (68) were at 15-under.
Morikawa is looking for a third Major while Schauffele is seeking his first one.
Theegala may have just one PGA TOUR win to his name, but he has been second twice this season and both times in Signature events (The Sentry and RBC Heritage).
The 26-year-old Theegala’s best Major finish has been T-9 on his Masters debut in 2023. He leads the Par-3 scoring and has scrambled well from the rough and is the best this week in 3-putt avoidance.
With three others — 2019 Open winner Shane Lowry (62), 2020 US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau (67) and Viktor Hovland (66) — at 13-under and two more — 2013 US Open winner Justin Rose (64) and Robert MacIntyre (66) — at 12-under, there are eight players with three off the lead.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler had his streak of par or under rounds broken after 42 rounds. He went four-over for three holes between the second and fourth and ended the day at 2-over 73 and was T-24 at 7-under.
The top Asians were Tom Kim (68) and Hideki Matsuyama (70) at 8-under in T-19th place.
Scheffler, who came off after a tense second round that included an arrest and a brief visit to the jail before carding 66, never really recovered from his disappointing start in the third round.
He opened with a par and then went double bogey-bogey-bogey for the next three holes and never recovered from there. There were three other birdies and bogeys and finally finished with a birdie for a 73.
Schauffele, who lost the lead for the first time in the third round when he made a double bogey at No. 15, caught up with two closing birdies as Morikawa made birdie at the 18th a little before him.
Schauffele also held the third-round lead/co-lead at the Olympics in Tokyo where he won the gold medal, and with teammate Patrick Cantlay en route to winning the 2022 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
He also held a one-stroke lead entering the final round of last week’s Wells Fargo Championship and went on to finish second behind Rory McIlroy (68), who was T-19 after three days here in Valhalla.
Lowry, who won in Zurich in the company of McIlroy, had a brilliant round of 62 that had nine birdies, six on the front side of the course and three more on the back nine.
Source: PTI News
