Scottie Scheffler managed to stretch his lead to four strokes in spite of carding a triple bogey in his third round at the Memorial Tournament.
Chasing his fifth win of the season, the world number one started the day with a three-stroke lead which he still held on the ninth tee at Muirfield Village.
He walked off the green having seen his advantage vanish, courtesy of a drive out of bounds en route to a seven.
But three birdies on the back nine for a 71 re-established his cushion on 10-under-par, despite another dropped shot on the last – courtesy of his first three putt in 154 holes.
“I felt like I played pretty good, outside of one poor swing on No. 9 that got a horrible break,” said the American, “after that, it was a shot that, on any other hole, it would be in the left rough, and there it hit a tree and went out of bounds. So a really tough break there, but did a good job resetting and bouncing back, had the nice birdie on 10 and 12 and did a good job kind of staying in the round today.
“[The course was] really challenging with the winds being up and how firm the greens get. They’re definitely getting faster too, which I think make it’s more challenging as well. So I think it’s only going to get tougher as the round goes on tomorrow as well. ”
Canadian Adam Hadwin was his closest challenger for much of the day after eagling the par five fifth, but a double bogey on the 14th and another dropped shot on the last left him among a trio four strokes off the pace.
“I don’t know if I have a chance tomorrow,” said Hadwin, searching for his win in seven years. “You know, you give four shots to the best player in the world, it’s kind of difficult.”
American Collin Morikawa and Austria’s Sepp Straka joined the Canadian on six-under-par after both carded bogey-free rounds of 68, two ahead of US PGA champion Xander Schauffele and Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is eight strokes off the pace after a third round 73, one ahead of Ireland’s Shane Lowry after a round of 68, England’s Tommy Fleetwood and defending champion Viktor Hovland who saw his challenge unravel with four successive bogeys and a double bogey on the back nine en route to a 77.
Related: Sebastian Söderberg poised for wire-to-wire victory in Sweden
