Inevitable Scottie Scheffler takes control of PGA Championship

Final round tee times

World No.1 Scottie Scheffler will take perhaps an insurmountable lead into the final round of the PGA Championship.

Scheffler shone brightest on day three of the second men's major of the year, playing his final five holes in 5-under.

The two-time Masters champ went round in 6-under 65 at Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina.

Undoubtedly, the highlight of his round came at the short par-4 14th where he knocked his tee shot to within three feet for eagle from 304 yards.

"I mean, there's a little bit of luck involved in that when you're at 300 yards, but overall, I executed the shot exactly how I wanted to," Scheffler said.

Scheffler has converted all eight of his previous 54-hole leads and there is a sense it would take an otherworldly performance from one of the chasers to deny the 28-year-old a third major win.

Sweden's Alex Noren (66) is three strokes adrift of Scheffler.

American golfers J.T. Poston (66) and Davis Riley (67) are on 7-under.

LIV Golf recruits Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are also inside the top-10 alongside 36-hole leader Jhonattan Vegas, Si Woo Kim and France's Matthieu Pavon.  

Defending champion Xander Schauffele and Masters winner Rory McIlroy went backwards on day three after both fought hard to make the 36-hole cut.

McIlroy and Schauffele both returned cards for 72 on Saturday and are 13 strokes behind Scheffler on 2-over par.

Scheffler told reporters he is looking forward to the challenge tomorrow.

"It would mean a lot [to win]," he said.  

"You know, these tournaments are very important to us, and you work your whole life to have a chance to win major tournaments, any tournament for that matter, and tomorrow I have a good opportunity to go out there and try and win the golf tournament.

"But it's going to take another really good round.

"There's a lot of great players chasing me on the leaderboard and someone is going to put up a great round and it's up to me to go out there and have another really good round and finish off the tournament."

Noren has never won a major and the PGA Championship is only his second start of the season.

He has been struggling with a hamstring injury.

"It's a bad injury but you can still live a quite normal life because you have two other tendons that support it," Noren said.  

"But I couldn't swing a club. I couldn't jump or run. I could walk kind of slowly and live a normal life."

DeChambeau has another major chance

The reigning U.S. Open champion has been a perennial contender in the majors over the last two years.

DeChambeau was pipped to the 2024 PGA Championship by the aforementioned Schauffele.

The American seized the lead here on Saturday with three holes remaining in his third round.

But he came unstuck after he found the water with his tee shot at the 17th.

DeChambeau told reporters the wind caught his golf ball and there was nothing he could do. It led to a double bogey.

"I'm three back with one round to go in a major championship," he said. "So I can't complain too much.

"You can always ask for more. You can always try to be a little greedier out there"

Asked on his thoughts ahead of the final round, he said: "All I can do is control what I can control."

Jon Rahm contending again

The 2023 Masters champion thrust himself into contention with a superb 67.

Rahm has been a top-10 machine on LIV Golf but has struggled in the majors since his switch to the PIF-backed league.

The Spaniard was adamant his performances in the big four have been nothing to do with his lucrative move.

Rahm said his struggles pre-dated the 2023 Ryder Cup but believes he has now turned a corner.