Adam Schenk shot a 3-under-par 67 to move up three spots into a tie with co-leader Harry Hall, who had led after 36 holes, on Saturday in the third round of the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
Schenk sank a 16-foot birdie putt on the par-4 No. 18 to move to 10-under 200. He had started the round with birdies at the first two holes, then a bogey at the par-4 No. 4 was balanced by his play at No. 11, where his approach shot from 110 yards stopped 7 inches from the hole for a tap-in birdie.
“It played tough today,” Schenk said. “The greens were really firm. They’re really baked out. It feels like walking on concrete. We just did a really good job managing everything today. It was one of those days where right where we were looking was right where I actually hit it. It doesn’t happen very often, but it’s nice when it does.”
Schenk, who joined the tour in 2018, is going for his first victory. He has one runner-up, one third-place finish and 10 top-10 finishes.
“Winning would be really cool,” Schenk said. “If I do, that’s awesome. If I don’t, that’s OK, too. I’ll learn from it. But I’ll just go take care of my business tomorrow. Whatever happens, happens. I can’t control it. So I can just only control myself, and I’ll just try and do that to the best of my abilities.”
He is tied with Englishman Hall, a PGA Tour rookie who made a 9-foot, 7-inch birdie putt at the par-4 17th hole for an adventurous 2-over 72. Hall made consecutive double bogeys at the par-4 Nos. 6-7 but rallied with two birdies on a bogey-free back nine (Nos. 12, 17).
“I’m never going to stop fighting,” Hall said. “I’m always going to keep trying. Like I said yesterday, this game brings you new challenges every day, and I’m equipped to deal with them. And I think I showed that today, and I kept a lot of patience, and I kept to my game plan. It helps, after two double bogeys, I was still in the tournament. It left me with some hope. I managed to bring it back a little bit.”
Harris English was alone in third at 9 under after battling for the lead during the round as he carded an even-par 70. His birdie at No. 16 on a 40-foot putt was negated by a bogey at No. 18.
“Man, when greens get that firm and things get spicy like that, it makes every golf course firm or really difficult,” English said.
He noted the importance of his birdie at 16.
“I hadn’t made a whole lot of long putts this week and was struggling a little bit today really getting the ball to the hole,” English said. “I just told myself I finally had a pretty good uphill putt and gave it a rap and, luckily, it went in.”
Fourth place is a two-way tie at 6 under between Justin Suh, who shot 66 on Saturday, and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo (72).
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler shot 72 and fell three spots from Friday to a tie for 10th at 4-under 206. The Dallas native collected three birdies (Nos. 1, 6, 11) and five bogeys (Nos. 4, 7, 14, 16, 18).
“It was like a mini major,” Schenk said of the difficult course. “It’s not a long course, but it’s held the test of time. There’s a lot of scores around a couple over par, I’m guessing today. We were fortunate enough to get in at 3-under.”
–Field Level Media