Patrick Cantlay shot a 6-under-par 65 on Saturday to leap to the top of the leaderboard and carry a one-shot lead into the final round at the BMW Championship at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club.
Cantlay, sharing the best score of the day with three others, sits at 12-under 201 after 54 holes.
Scott Stallings and Xander Schauffele are tied for second one-shot back after matching 66s in the third round. Scottie Scheffler (68) and second-round leader Adam Scott (69) are tied for fourth at 10 under, two shots back.
Aaron Wise (67) and Collin Morikawa are tied for sixth, three shots back. Morikawa also fired a 65 to vault himself into contention on moving day.
Cantlay carded three birdies going out before things got interesting on the back. In four successive holes, he went bogey-birdie-birdie-eagle before ending his round bogey-birdie. Cantlay was a missed 3-foot putt away from carding a 64, instead getting a bogey on No. 17.
“The greens are a little beat up and it probably wasn’t a good stroke, so I’ll go take care of that after the round, practice little bit,” Cantlay said. “It’s very unlike me, and things like that happen.”
Cantlay hit a lob wedge 107 yards into the 14th green to set up his eagle.
“I don’t know the golf course too well,” Cantlay said. “Obviously it’s my first time here, so I’ve been on my wedge shots walking up to the green to see exactly where I wanted to land it, and landed it in basically the perfect spot.”
Cantlay seeks to become the first player to successfully defend a FedExCup Playoffs event.
Stallings followed up his pair of 68s in the first two rounds with six birdies against just one bogey. Stallings is attempting to reach the season-finale Tour Championship for the first time in his 12-year career.
“That was my No. 1 goal to start the year,” Stallings said of making it to East Lake next week.
“I’ve done a lot of good things to get to this point, and the way I handled myself today in the situation of all the stuff we’re dealing with … I feel like I handled myself. I don’t have anything to prove,” Stallings said.
Schauffele opened with a birdie and carded an eagle on the third hole. He would birdie two more and post a clean round. A win would mark Schauffele’s fourth tour title in his last 10 starts.
“As important as it is to win events, it’s really putting yourself in position to give yourself a really good chance next week,” Schauffele said. “I’d be the first one to tell you if you’re not in prime position, you’re just not going to win next week. I’ve kind of been around that. One day at a time.”
Spain’s Jon Rahm and Brendan Steele also shot 65 on Saturday. Both are tied for 18th at 5 under for the tournament.
FedExCup leader Will Zalatoris withdrew during the round with a back injury.
–Field Level Media