Scottie Scheffler was at his best on a tough day at Muirfield Village, opening with 13 straight pars and then pouring it on at the end for a 4-under 68 that gave him a one-shot lead Saturday over Ben Griffin at the Memorial in Dublin, Ohio.

Scheffler birdied four of his last five holes, finishing with a birdie from just inside 15 feet. He took the lead when Griffin missed a 3-foot par putt on the final hole.

At stake for Scheffler is a chance to win for the third time in his past four tournaments and join Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back winners at the Memorial.

“I don’t know what the scoring average was today, but I was definitely proud of the way I finished and it was really challenging,” Scheffler said. “Through 13 holes, I felt like I was playing really good and I was only even par. Just a hard course.”

The scoring average for the 57 players who made the cut was 73.9, and three players failed to break 80. Scheffler, the only player to break par all three rounds, was at 8-under 208.

Griffin made five birdies and five bogeys over his last 13 holes.

Scheffler was six shots behind Griffin at one point in the cool, blustery weather. Then it all quickly changed.

Griffin, who became the only player this week to reach 10-under par when he ran off three straight birdies, gave it all back with four straight bogeys. He was in the fairway or on the tee when he made three of those bogeys.

Scheffler was lurking, as always. The world’s No. 1 player has an uncanny knack of hanging around and winding up with the low score by the end of the day. This was no exception.

“I did see that Ben got to 10 under, but it’s not going to change my play in the middle of a Saturday,” Scheffler said. “This golf course is really challenging and no lead’s safe around this place. I knew if I kept going and played a decent round, I would be in somewhat of a position to chase him down tomorrow.”

He’s no longer chasing, and he’s a tough customer to track down. Scheffler has won the last eight times when he held the 54-hole lead.

Jordan Spieth also was in the chase, tied with Scheffler in second place at one point, until he failed to save par from a bunker on the 17th and drove into the creek on the 18th for a closing bogey and a 72. He was five shots behind.

Nick Taylor of Canada wound up three shots behind after a 74.

LPGA tour

Maja Stark shot a 2-under 70 and avoided the mistakes that befell other contenders Saturday to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills.

The 25-year-old from Sweden had a 7-under 209 total. Julia Lopez Ramirez of Spain was second after a 68, the best score of the day.

The Japanese trio of Rio Takeda (70), Hinako Shinobu (72) and second-round leader Mao Saigo (75) followed at 5 under. Top-ranked Nelly Korda was 4 under after a 73.

Saigo took a three-shot lead into the day but slumped as Erin Hills proved much tougher for the entire field than it had seemed the previous couple of days.

Saigo made three straight bogeys at Nos. 4-6 to drop into a tie for first. She made an 8 1/2-foot birdie putt on No. 12 to move back into sole possession of the lead, but Stark tied her with a 21 1/2-foot birdie on the par-3 16th. Saigo then bogeyed the last two to fall two back.

Speedier greens and tricker pin placements wreaked havoc with just about everyone, leading to plenty of double and triple bogeys.