Scottie Scheffler (-16) surges up leaderboard, holds solo lead at RBC Heritage | CBS Sports

Doug Bell and Rick Gehman join CBS Sports HQ to recap round 3 at the RBC Heritage.

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Scotty schiffer’s week began with a
quick nine holes on Wednesday to prepare
for the RBC he made a double at number
three on Thursday since then Scotty
Sheffer has played a blemish free 17
under par and in search of again
back-to-back
victories CBS Sports data scientist and
host of The First Cut podcast Rick Gan
joins us alongside CBS Sports golf
analyst Doug Bell Rick I’m going to go
to you first here because we’re watching
this happen and it makes a ton of sense
because this is the Scotty sheffler
we’ve grown to know but help us make
sense of it statistically where has
Scotty separated himself let’s say
specific to here on Saturday yeah well
firstly he tried to give the rest of the
field a chance by showing up late on
Wednesday only playing nine holes and
making a double early he he tried to
give these guys an opportunity to win
and then he and then he snatched it away
so there’s a couple of things here and
they should be no surprise with Scotty
sheffler on Saturday he he led the field
and strokes gained off the te he led the
field and strokes gained approach he is
now first in both of those categories
for the week and it’s a pretty sizable
gap between him and the rest of the
field that is what Scotty’s been doing
for the last two years plus you add in
the fact that he’s now a average maybe
slightly above average putter of the
golf ball and it unlocks a ton of great
scores because of how many opportunities
that he gives himself and then you’ve
got all the intangibles Joe the things
that aren’t going to show up on the stat
sheet the things that aren’t going to
show up in the models it’s his ability
to avoid making bogey it’s his ability
to uh bounce back from maybe an errant
shot or two he rarely compounds errors
so he is just uh firing on all cylinders
right now and it’s it’s truly a pleasure
to watch Doug we ways off go ahead
excuse me after you no I was excuse me
Joe I was just thinking Ian Baker Finch
said Fear the Beard after 16 right so I
looked it up and he came to the Arnold
Palmer invitation with the beard he’d
had two weeks off and they said did you
grow it just for this tournament he said
no I got lazy and you know what he goes
I’ll probably eventually have to shave
it off because it’s getting kind of
scraggly well I think the rest of the
field wants him to shave because ever
since the Arnold pmer invitation with
his beard he has been unbeatable so yes
Fear the Beard guys pretty remarkable
what this guy has done and I think his
wife likes it too so uh he may not be
going anywhere for a long time analytics
and beard lytics all in one place Doug
what I was going to ask
we just spoke with Trevor imman and he
talked about the reference point yes is
tiger with this streak of greatness
we’ve seen now extrapolate that over a
decade and we could start to have that
conversation but tiger did it through
intimidation as well the fact that
Scotty Sheffer is staring guys in the
eyes and smiling at him like there’s a
relationship between he and other
players that there wasn’t with Tiger
Woods does that make it all the more
impressive to you that he’s still
dominant and I don’t know maintaining
relationships the answer to that is yes
you know it’s interesting because
everybody was intimidated by Tiger he
was the Mike Tyson of the golf world
especially back in ‘ 07 when he was the
last guy to do what Scotty is doing now
and that’s potentially when uh again uh
over a short period of time uh but I
think Justin Thomas in his interview
with Amanda said it best and he said
listen this is not a disparaging comment
but what he’s doing is boring because it
just hits every Fairway and virtually
every green and it’s so boring it’s it’s
really brilliant is what Justin Thomas
was saying and nobody can match that
right now players are trying and Joe
you’re right the fact that he’s such a
nice guy makes it even more difficult
for these guys because you want to beat
a tiger I mean when he’s going out there
and he’s he’s giving you the look but
with Scotty he smiles at you and that’s
got to bug the players to death really I
mean it’s it’s amazing what he’s doing
yeah I think he kind of lulls some of
his playing competitors to sleep a
little bit they think oh this this guy’s
really nice there’s no way he’s going
he’s going to stomp on my throat and
sure enough he does that just routinely
weekend in and weekend out I I think Joe
you know you’re talking about nobody
being Tiger Woods and you’re you’re
absolutely right what tiger did for for
decades plus is is incredible but I
think we’re in a moment right now you
know we’re we’re two years into the
Scotty sheffler era off the top of my
head I believe he’s got 10 victories
since the start of of 2022 we might look
back at this and say okay this you know
if he wins the RBC Heritage that’s win
11 of what number and what time period
right is it 11 of 20 in in four years is
it 11 of 40 in six years you know what I
mean so this could be one that we look
back at uh five or 10 years from now and
say yeah that was that was one of many
and it kind of solidified his position
as the number one player in the world
and he started doing things that had
only been done since Tiger Woods I mean
I think we need to start looking at it
uh very much historically as opposed to
just you know smiling Scotty gets
another one we will not be lulled to
sleep nor will we put this in the trophy
case just yet because Sunday does await
with that in mind Rick is there a
statistical profile or a performance
that made you raise an eyebrow said this
could be the guy come Sunday yeah ludic
oberg is uh super scary and he should be
right I mean this is a guy who um what
he’s doing is so impressive because he’s
never seen any of these golf courses
before he’s only you know 10 months
removed from becoming a professional and
he’s basically flying with zero
experience and he’s still putting up a
ton of high quality finishes and his
statistical profile is very very strong
since he turned Pro he’s basically the
second or third best player in the world
behind Scotty sheffler maybe Rory mroy
maybe Xander Schley maybe John ROM if
you want to start throwing in a few
other names and this is a golf course
that um doesn’t even allow him to use
the vast majority of his power off the
te so I think when you add it all up
this is a guy who’s got a lot of really
good game bubbling just below the the
surface already twice a winner worldwide
he’s the one that I think could stare
down Scotty on Sunday and and try to
steal this one away from
him and guys how about SE straka rolling
in that Birdie on the 18th hole to play
in the final group and you’re thinking
sep straa right now keep in mind he was
on the winning Ridder Cup team uh and
that European team beat back Scotty shef
and the Americans with relative ease and
I think that gives sep straka a lot of
confidence I remember interviewing
Scotty Sheffer after he was such a great
player uh when he played on his first
Rider Cup team and hadn’t recorded a win
yet and that that serves served him well
and I think the same situation for straa
although different is that straa does
have two victories on his resume last
summer at the John Deere Classic on that
Sunday shot 29 on his outward nine uh
and then came home and hung on and he
won the cognizant classic a few years
ago down at PJ National so I think sep
straa is in position guys and maybe just
maybe Scotty Sheffer uh maybe the gas
tank is running a little bit empty after
all the excitement over the last few
weeks we shall see but I think straa
straa has their credentials wish my
empty looked like that we have presented
cases let’s now make it official Rick
gaman your pick to win tomorrow is who
yeah hold your applause for my Bravery
here but Scotty Sheffer was uh you know
the pick you know Thursday night Friday
night and and the pick after Saturday’s
round three I mean he is just uh too
good and he’s better than than everybody
else in the field by a significant
margin um you mentioned the ability to
to maybe it’s not intimidate but he is
definitely in the back of everybody’s
mind he has already set the pace and
they know that they have to go on and
chase him down he is going to get a
little bit little bit of a rest here
right so I think that he has uh 18 more
holes in the tank he can get a little
bit of rest and then uh continue this
unbelievable season that he’s having but
I just find it very difficult to believe
that anybody else is putting on that
Tartan jacket besides Scotty
shuffler and guys I do believe the
winner is going to come out of the final
pairing uh the golf course is playing so
easy the winds will be up a little bit
tomorrow a little more than it has the
most of the week and out of a different
direction potential for rain maybe
Midway through the round but nothing too
serious but I think sep straa again I I
told you about his resume it’s a growing
resume it’s an impressive resume he’s
been in big situations recently as we
mentioned the Ryder Cup won last year in
the PGA Tour I think sooner or later
luck is bound to bounce somebody else’s
way I’m going with seep sta is not just
to be different I think he’s got a
chance now to topple the number one
player in the world a chance and a nice
juicy number there at five and a half to
one heading into Sunday but I myself
when I buy one suit jacket I usually buy
two we’ll see if he can put Tartan next
to Green on Sunday Rick gamon and Doug
Bell we appreciate you
guys here’s a look at the odds heading
into Sunday’s action at the RBC again
all coming your way on CBS and streaming
on Paramount plus coverage begins at 3
eastern time and it’s minus money on
Scotty to do it again