14 June 2020: They are all hungry for some silver. Xander Schauffele shot a second straight 66 to secure a one-stroke advantage over five golfers. Schauffele is at 13-under through 54 holes, with Gary Woodland, Justin Thomas, Branden Grace (66 each), Collin Morikawa (67) and Jordan Spieth (68) in hot pursuit.
Daniel Berger and Harold Varner III are not too far back in T7 at 11-under. Patrick Reed shot the round of the day, a 63 to get into the mix at 10-under 200 in T9. A bunch of golfers are keeping Reed company – Bryson DeChambeau (70), Rory McIlroy (69), Justin Rose (68), Corey Conners (67) and Abraham Ancer (66) – just three off the pace.
Only three years ago, everything Spieth touched turned to gold. He was marching the world of golf like the chosen one, collecting 14 professional victories along the way. Even a miscued tee shot while trailing Matt Kuchar at Royal Birkdale could not hold him back from a sensational Open Championship victory in 2017. But since then, Spieth has struggled to impose his game as he settled for just eleven top-10 finishes in 60 starts.
All of that could change on Sunday, if Spieth continues to flourish as he has at the Colonial Golf Club through the first three rounds. Spieth has impressive history at Colonial – five top-10s including the title in 2016 and two runner-up finishes, make Hogan’s Alley a favourite hunting ground. He was only two back going into the final round last year, but a 72 on Sunday put paid to his hopes for another victory. Spieth will hope that he does better this time around, starting just one back from Schauffele.
Moving day got stuck in a massive traffic jam, as some of the biggest names in golf bunched together like a flock of penguins snuggling together on a block of Arctic ice. The top twenty were separated by just five strokes.
Need a few more like this on Sunday @CSChallengeFW pic.twitter.com/9tAhqWddYg
— Xander Schauffele (@XSchauffele) June 13, 2020
Schauffele also had the 54-hole lead at the Sentry Tournament of Champions earlier this season before missing out in a playoff against Thomas and Reed. He is leading the numbers on tee to green, gaining 2.799 strokes from the field with some accurate punches around the course. Putting has let him down this week, 17th at 0.953 strokes gained compared to 2.080 for Spieth, who is leading the putting stats.
With so many golfers within striking range, Sunday could be an intriguing experience. If the event needs a playoff to discover the winner, it will be the 8th this season and the first since the Phoenix Open.
