Ben Griffin opened with three consecutive birdies but quickly stumbled with a double bogey at the par-4 5th followed by a bogey at the par-4 6th. He recovered with bidies at the 8th and 10th and closed with a 68 to retain a share of the lead at 13-under at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
This is the American’s 18th start of the season where he has notched one win and five top-10 finishes (T7/The American Express, T4/Mexico Open at VidantaWorld, T4/Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches, Won/Zurich Classic of New Orleans/with teammate Andrew Novak, T8/PGA Championship).
“Going into tomorrow very confident. I feel like I’m in a really good spot. It seems like me and Matti are going to duel it out a little bit tomorrow based on the way the leaderboard is, at least try to take advantage of our leads that we currently have over third and fourth,” said the American.
“So, yeah, the pedal is going to be down. I’m excited to get back out there. You know, there’s some birdie holes to start the round tomorrow. So excited to go at it and see what I can do.
“It’s an old-school golf course. We don’t play a ton of it. We do play a decent amount, but you know, it seems like the way the landscape of modern professional golf is big, long golf courses, long par-3s. This is plenty hard of a test for us even though it’s not that long, if you look at the score cards.
“You have to be in the right positions. You hit a lot of irons off tees. You can take advantage of driver on certain holes. So I’m excited to attack some of the par-5s, attack some of the shorter par-4s with driver, and make sure I keep it in play on other par-4s with 10 and 17 with long irons off the tee.”
Griffin is playing in his 94th start overall, seeking his second PGA Tour win (2025 Zurich Classic). With a win on Sunday he would join Rory McIlroy (3), Scottie Scheffler (2) and Sepp Straka (2) as multiple winners this season.
This is his third 54-hole lead/co-lead in individual stroke-play events on Tour. He is 0-for-2 to date in converting to vicory (2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship/T3, 2023 Sanderson Farms Championship/T2). He held the 54-hole lead in the Zurich Classic in New Orleans along with teammate Andrew Novak, en route to winning.
Germany’s Matti Schmid also opened with a trio of birdies and went on to make just one more at the 16th as well as a pair of bogeys at the 11th and 17th for a 68 to keep his share of the lead.
“I got off to a really good start,” said Schmid, “and after three holes I hung onto that pretty good, I would say.
“I needed to scramble a little bit today. Didn’t hit too many fairways. I mean, it was tough. I feel like a lot of tee shots were with hard left-to-right wind. I hit in a fade, so it’s kind of tricky to hit these fairways then because they’re so firm, but hung on there pretty good.
“I had a few close calls also on the European Tour, I would say. I also played some nice final rounds this year too, so hopefully I can just put one more up there tomorrow, and hopefully that’s enough.”
He holds the 54-hole lead/co-lead for the second time and is 0-for-1 to date (2022 ISCO Championship/T8; final-round 5-over 77).
Schmid is making his 79th start on Tour and seeking his first career win (best finishes: 2024 Shriners Children’s Open/T3, 2023 Butterfield Bermuda Championship/3rd).
There have been eight first-time winners this season, most recently Ryan Fox at the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic.
Four players from Germany have won on Tour (eight wins), most recently Stephan Jaeger at the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open.
American Rickie Fowler lies in third place and trails by four after carding a 67 in a bid for his seventh Tour victory. He will play in the final group for the first time since his most recent win at the 2023 Rocket Classic.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre fired a 64 and moved into a share of fourth place at 8-under alongside Americans Nick Hardy (67) and Akshay Bhatia (69).
Scottie Scheffler also carded a 64, sharing round of the day honors with MacIntyre and Lucas Glover (T10/-6), to move into a share of seventh place and trails by six shots. He seeks to join Ben Hogan (1946) as the only players to win the Charles Schwab Challenge and The CJ Cup Byron Nelson in the same season. He would become the 16th player to win both events during their respective careers.
Aon Next 10 and Aon Swing 5
Aon Next 10: The top 10 players in the FedExCup standings not otherwise exempt following the Charles Schwab Challenge will qualify for the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday.
Aon Swing 5: The top five players not otherwise exempt who earn the most FedExCup points during the ONEflight Myrtle Beach Classic and the Charles Schwab Challenge will qualify for the Memorial Tournament presented by
Workday.
