Griffin, Schmid share lead going into final round

GOLF ROUNDUP

Matti Schmid watches his shot off the first tee during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday. JULIO CORTEZ — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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By Stephen Hawkins

The Associated Press

FORT WORTH, Texas >> Ben Griffin and Matti Schmid matched each other again Saturday, and will go into the final round at Colonial tied four strokes ahead of the field and with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler lurking not much further back.

Griffin and Schmid each shot 2-under 68 after fast starts they didn’t maintain. They were at 13-under 197 after posting the same score for the third straight day at the Charles Schwab Challenge. They followed opening 66s and then 63s that put them in the lead together.

Rickie Fowler shot 67 and at 201 will be paired with the co-leaders in the final group Sunday when Schmid seeks his first PGA Tour victory and Griffin his first individual title after pairing with Andrew Novak to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans last month.

Coming off his third major victory at the PGA Championship a week ago, Scheffler began the day 10 strokes back before a 6-under 64 that got him to 7 under and within six strokes. He would have been closer if not for three bogeys his last seven holes. But, with another big round on Sunday, he still has a chance to become the first player since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win in three starts in a row.

Bae settles for 1-shot lead in Mexico

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico >> Jenny Bae started with three straight birdies and had a one-shot lead that could have been larger except for a soft finish Saturday in the Mexico Riviera Maya Open.

Bae didn’t make another birdies after the third hole. What held her back were having to settle for pars on easy scoring holes, and then closing with a bogey when it took her two shots to get out of the crushed coral left of the green on the par-5 18th.

Bae was at 7-under 209, and the LPGA rookie faces a big test Sunday — along with just about everyone else chasing her — in a bid for her first LPGA victory.

Yahui Zhang of China finished birdie-birdie for a 68 and was at 6-under 210, along with Chisato Iwai of Japan, who also birdied the last two holes.

Goosen, Cabrera, Cink and Harrington headline leaderboard

BETHESDA, Md. >> Stewart Cink looked over at the leaderboard late in the third round of the Senior PGA Championship on Saturday and flashed back to younger days for him and many of the other big-name players in the mix.

“It feels like a major out there,” Cink said. “Those names up there have all had some success.”

Retief Goosen and Angel Cabrera were among those tied for first going into the final round, with Cink and Lee Westwood one stroke back and a group including Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh and Y.E. Yang two back. The 11 golfers on or close to the lead have combined to win 13 major championships.

“A tough golf course — all the guys that have really done it on hard golf courses really rise to the top and seem to grind it out more maybe a little bit more than certain players,” said Goosen, who shot a 4-under 68 to surge up the leaderboard. “I certainly grinded it out.”