Top six placing for Theegala at Players Championship, Matsuyama is T9

CAPTION: File photo of Sahith Theegala who is now looking forward to the Masters next month. Image courtesy PGA Tour.

Rahul Banerji

Sahith Theegala made the most of his Moving Day opportunities to climb into the top six of the $25 million 50th Players Championship with a late birdie-eagle-birdie run that put him five strokes behind event leader Xander Schauffele at Ponte Vedra in Florida on Saturday.

Between the 15th and 17th holes of the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, Theegala picked up four shots to race up the leaderboard to sit alongside injured but battling world number one Scottie Scheffler on 12 under par 204 with a 5 under 67 on the penultimate day of the PGA Tour’s flagship event.

At the top, Tokyo Olympics champion Schauffele struck a bogey-free 65 to total 17 under par 199, his second such score in three rounds. He leads US Open winner Wyndham Clark (65-65-70) by a stroke after the latter dropped two shots on the day. Open champion Brian Harman moved into contention with a 64 and a 15 under total of 201 for sole third place while Maverick McNealy and Matt Fitzpatrick were tied for fourth on 13-under 203.

Ninth at the Masters last year, Theegala was pleased with his play. “Yeah, it's just awesome to see how much my game has progressed, and I think I use this course as a good basis, because no matter how easy the conditions are out here, this is a hard golf course, and it's not long or there's nothing particularly nasty about it. You just have to put your ball in the right places, and you just have to hit good shots. You can't fake it around here,” he was quoted as saying.

“I think this is one of the courses that every type of player has won at, and I think inherently that makes it a great golf course design. You get punished when you hit a bad shot, and you get rewarded when you hit a good shot.

“The first year I played -- I was like, this course is so hard. I don't know how I'm going to compete unless I hit it better off the tee, hit better iron shots, everything. And I put up like a -- I was probably 10- or 11-over, missed the cut. Last year, honestly felt like I played well the first two days, and I think I made the cut on the number and shot like 9-over on the weekend, too. I don't have a good track record after two events, but it does seem like a place where it could get a little volatile, and if you're playing well, you're going to play well.”

Down the order, Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama (69-69-68) ended Saturday in a share of ninth place and said he was hoping his putter would warm up on Sunday. The nine-time PGA Tour winner battled to a 4 under total on the day after losing ground on the field while on the greens. “I’m still not making any putts,” Matsuyama said.

“Of the three days thus far, my stroke today felt the best. And given how I’ve been playing recently, to be able to still gain a few strokes back on my score today is something to be positive about and I’m hoping to roll that into my round tomorrow.

“There’s quite a big gap between myself and the leaders, but I will do some preparation tonight and give it my best shot tomorrow,” said Matsuyama, who traded five birdies against a lone bogey in the third round.

World number 2 Rory McIlroy (65-73-69) was T12 on 9-under, while Viktor Hovland (73-69-71) at 3-under has been off-colour and is T51. Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan battled to a 70 to sit T12 alongside McIlroy while Si Woo Kim of Korea shot his week’s best of 68 for 7-under and tied 24th place.

Kim, the youngest Players winner back in 2017, hit a stunning eagle two on the par-4 12th hole and added four birdies against two bogeys. “It was kind of between driver and three wood and I hit a hard three wood. The contact was very good, it was a perfect number,” said Kim of his tee shot on 12th which landed five feet of the pin.

“The greens were a bit soft but this is still a tough golf course. I’m happy and hopefully I’ll shoot like this tomorrow. When you get a hot start, you can go low. But if you struggle in the first few holes, it can be tricky. You have to be patient here and not attack every hole. I’ll just go out and play and avoid the big mistakes. Keep it simple and stay patient,” he said.

Event leader Scheuffele meanwhile became the third in the tournament’s 50-year history to record 54-hole score of 199 or better after 19-under 197s by Greg Norman (1994) and Webb Simpson (2018).