It’s set up for a great final round between Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele at Quail Hollow
Rory McIlroy played in Saturday’s final group with 36 hole leader -11 Xander Schauffele. McIlroy took advantage of a 341 yard drive at the fifth hole and held his birdie putt to reach -8 and get within three shots of Schauffele. Schauffele stretched his lead at the top of leaderboard to four shots due to a birdie at seven. The Northern Irishman made easy work of the 508 yard ninth hole with a big drive, an eight iron and held a 12 foot birdie putt to shoot a front nine of -2. McIlroy headed to the 10th tee -9 and three shots behind -12 leader Schauffele.
A one-shot swing at 10 as Schauffele failed to achieve a birdie whereas McIlroy held a short-range putt to reach -10. Three-time Wells Fargo Championship winner managed to escape 12 with a par but a bogey from 2021 Olympic Gold Medallist at the same hole resulted in Schauffele’s lead dropping to one shot. The difference between McIlroy and Schauffele remained one shot due to both achieving birdie at the 314 yard par four 14th. McIlroy achieved two excellent up and downs at 15 & 17 to remain -11.
The Northern Irishman was extremely lucky that his tee shot at 18 didn’t go into a penalty area and a closing par was good enough for McIlroy to shoot a second consecutive bogey free round. Schauffele achieved a par and shot a round of 70. McIlroy -11 and Schauffele -12 will play together in the final group for a second consecutive round on Sunday.
Sung-jae Im -8 is currently in third place and three shots behind McIlroy. 2023 Europe Ryder Cup participant Sepp Straka shot a fantastic round of 67 which included a birdie at 18 and will start Sunday in fourth on -7. Jason Day -7 struggled on Saturday but kept his hopes of a win alive with a birdie on 17 to shoot a disappointing round of 73. Collin Morikawa, Taylor Pendrith, Sam Burns, Stephen Jaeger and Byeong-hun An are all tied sixth on -4. Seamus Power shot a under par round and will start Sunday even. Shane Lowry +6 had another disappointing round of 73.
Padraig Harrington -9 got off to a perfect start at the Regions Tradition with birdies at one and two to reach -11. Harrington shot a -3 round of 69 and will start Sunday one shot behind -13 joint leaders Doug Barron & Ernie Els. AT the Cognizant Founders Cup Leona Maguire -2 shot a round of 71. Maguire -3 is only two shots off tied 10th and a good round will see the Cavan pick up a excellent cheque. Madelene Sagstrom is leading -19 and a sixth win in a row for Nelly Korda is very unlikely as she is 11 shots behind first placed Sagstrom.