Scottie Scheffler lines up a putt during the third round of the 2023 BMW Championship. | Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Scottie Scheffler made four birdies on Olympia Fields’ back nine, thus sending him to the top of the BMW Championship and FedEx Cup rankings.
Scottie Scheffler certainly looked like the number-one ranked player in the world Saturday.
His 6-under 64 vaulted him to the top of the BMW Championship leaderboard, as he and Matthew Fitzpatrick sit at 11-under through 54 holes.
Scheffler started his round with back-to-back birdies at the par-5 1st and par-4 2nd. Those two par-breakers served as a harbinger of things to come.
On the back nine, he made four birdies, including three straight on the 10th, 11th, and 12th holes.
That three-hole stretch is where Scheffler made his move up the leaderboard.
When he walked off the 9th green, where he made his only bogey of the day, Scheffler sat at 7-under for the tournament.
By the time he arrived at the short par-3 13th, Scheffler had got it to 10-under and was in a share of the lead.
But his shot of the day came at the par-5 15th, where the former Texas Longhorn decided to take a driver off the deck.
The CBS Sports tracker noted that Scheffler’s second shot on the 15th reached an apex of 31 feet, but it did not even look that high.
“I haven’t hit driver off the deck as much with this driver as I have drivers in the past,” Scheffler admitted after his round.
“The shot is really shaped well for that kind of play. It’s just a low cut. I tried it the first day just because I thought it would be fun, and I hit a pretty good shot, and then I did it again today because it was fun.”
Alas, his ‘fun’ shot hurried up to the front of the green, leading to another birdie.
By then, Scheffler was 11-under and briefly held a share of the lead until Fitzpatrick made a brilliant birdie of his own at the 15th in the group behind him.
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Scottie Scheffler plays his third shot on the 1st hole during the third round of the 2023 BMW Championship.
The 2022 Masters champion then cooled off over his final three holes as he hit a couple of wayward tee shots off the 17th and 18th tees. But he made two terrific par saves on both of those holes, thus sustaining his momentum heading into the final round.
Should Scheffler go on to win the BMW Championship, he will head to East Lake ranked first in the FedEx Cup standings. That would be a huge deal because whoever is in first begins the Tour Championship at 10-under par due to the handicapped format.
But Scheffler is not too concerned about that quite yet.
“It was Saturday out here, so I’m not really too concerned about next week,” Scheffler said. “I was just trying to have a good round of golf and just try and move my way up the leaderboard.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
