MCKINNEY, Texas — Scottie Scheffler is 18 holes away from picking up his first tournament victory of 2025.
The No. 1-ranked golfer in the world held a six-stroke lead as play began in the delayed third round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch. He would walk off the course with a eight-stroke lead.
Scheffler started the day with a par on No. 1 before carding a birdie on the Par 4 No. 2. That pushed him to 19-under for the tournament and gave him a six-stroke and seven-stroke lead over his playing partners Sam Stevens and Ricky Castillo.
Scheffler got a birdie on No. 3 to get to 20-under par, but gave a stroke back with a bogey on No. 4. He responded with birdies on No. 5 and 9.
Scheffler would give a stroke back on No. 11 but carded birdies on No. 14 and 15. Play was suspended while Scheffler and the final group were on No. 18. The group was given the option to finish the hole. The group did that Scheffler made a birdie in the dark.
Scheffler will also have a chance to set the new tournament scoring record. The record is 26-under par set by K.H. Lee in 2021.
Erik van Rooyen and Adam Schenk both vaulted up the leaderboard after shooting 6-under 65 on the day. The two are tied for second place at 15-under par.
Former LSU All-American Sam Burns entered the third round at eight-under par but couldn’t get low to start off his round. He carded pars on the first five holes of the front nine.
Burns bounced back to shoot three-under to get to 11-under and is tied for 13th heading into Sunday.
Texas native Jordan Spieth started his round on the back nine and made up some ground with a birdie on No. 14 and another one on No. 18. Spieth finished the third round at four-under par, tied for 23rd and 12 strokes off the lead.
Notable golfers who did not make the cut were Tom Kim, Joel Dahmen, Kevin Kisner, and Zach Johnson.