An eventful third round of the second FedEx Cup playoff event at Caves Valley golf club got underway on Saturday, as the field fought the warm conditions to avail of the 4x points available before next week’s Tour Championship.
It was another tough day for Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy who has been struggling off the tee all weekend as the 36-year-old posted a one-over-par round three which takes him to three-under for the weekend and in a tie for 14th.
McIlroy is guaranteed second place in the FedEx Cup standings, but he will be looking to get rid of some of the misses on show the past few days if he has any chances of winning the Tour Championship next week, as he did in 2022.
A double bogey on the par-4 first hole for the grand slam winner was not the start he would have intended, as he lacked momentum throughout the round, trading birdies for bogeys to post a round of 71.
Offaly’s Shane Lowry would need a disastrous finish if he were to drop out of the FedEx Cup top 30 standings, but he won’t be looking to replicate his round three performance on Sunday’s final round as costly errors seen the 38-year-old post a poor five-over-par round which drops him down the leaderboard to T34 at 4-over for the week.
The 2019 Open winner really struggled on the back nine, even getting a warning for slow play, as he made three bogeys and a sore double bogey on the par-3 17th hole after a tee shot that found the water, leaving him with a lot of work to do on Sunday if he is to climb the leaderboard.
A man who isn’t struggling right now is Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, as the 29-year-old continues to hold his lead at the top, posting a two-under-par round three to take him to 16-under and four shots ahead of world no.1 Scottie Scheffler.
MacIntyre was in the final group paired with Scheffler which saw the two in form golfers trade blows throughout the 18 holes, most notably on the 14th hole as the Scot drained an eight-foot putt to save par and shushed the jeering crowd.
MacIntyre, who now sits third in the projected FedEx Cup standings, pulled off some incredible par saves, none bigger than the short fifth hole when he drove over a hazard line into the bushes and still managed to get up and down.
“It wasn’t the plain sailing of the first two days, but I thought I managed it well. Missed it in the right spots. A couple of times I didn’t miss it in the right spots. But it was steady. Holed some nice par putts, missed a couple of chances that I felt I could have got… but the pins were absolutely brutal,” said the 2024 Scottish Open winner.
Scheffler spent his round chasing the inform MacIntyre, as the 29-year-old posted a three-under-par round to knock one stroke from MacIntyre’s lead.
Scheffler is not the man you want to be hunting you though, as the 2025 Open Champion has a knack for closing the gap on the final day.
“The golf course is very hilly. I was quite warm. Overall, I felt like I did some good stuff out there. I would have liked to have been a little sharper with my irons today,” said the world no.1.
Speaking about the jeering from fans on the 14th hole, Scheffler said, “I think it’s part of it. People have a tendency to say things that are dumb. I can think of a few things that were said to me in the final round in Ireland that were very far over the line. If you’re a fan, it’s only going to fire the guy up more, and I think just do your best to behave out there. It can be a little bit silly sometimes.”
A hole-in-one for Akshay Bhatia on the par-3 17th helped him get back inside the projected top 30 FedEx Cup standings and another three-under-par round for Harry Hall sees him jump 20 places to 25th in the projected standings.
Leaderboard
