Ben Griffin maintains lead as Koivun and Scheffler lurk right behind after third round of play at Procore Championship

By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)

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In any golf tournament, Saturday is known as moving day, where people get it going to have a chance to be there on the last day.

During the third round of the Procore Championship at Silverado Resort & Spa’s North Course, the leaderboard tightened up. This could mean an eventful finish for the first event of the FedExCup Fall. 

But there wasn’t much movement at the top of the leaderboard. Ben Griffin finished the day at -16 for the event following a 70 round. He was looking like he’d have a two-shot edge going into Sunday, but a bogey on 18 tightened up the leaderboard even more. 

“It actually felt pretty similar, just on the greens I didn’t convert as many putts,” Griffin said. “But Hitting it really solid, gave myself a lot of birdie looks out there. Missed a short one on the first.” 

One of the reasons his round wasn’t quite as good as the first two was the fact that he was all over the place when driving. He only hit 5 of 14 fairways, but was a perfect 2 of 2 on scrambling. However, his mindset going into Sunday is to keep scoring. 

“Yeah, it’s definitely, it can be a little bit different of a mentality, but I’ve got to have that chasing mindset as a leader because I know all those guys behind me are going to stay aggressive and I’ve got to do everything I can to stay in front and come out tomorrow 2 and be ready to make birdies,” Griffin continued. “There’s no holding on, there’s no defense, it’s offense all the way through 18 holes.”

Second is amateur Jackson Koivun. His 68 just continued a very consistent round. Koivun did a solid job of hitting greens in regulation, where he hit 13 of 18. Koivun got off to a rough start with bogeys on holes 3 and 4. But those would be his only blemishes. The rest of his round included an eagle on the 12th hole, a par-5. At this hole, he made a long 42-foot, 10-inch putt to get momentum going. 

“Best part of my game, probably either my putting or my mental game,” Koivun said. “I feel like I made a lot of good putts coming down the stretch that were just kind of bonuses. Honestly, the putt on 12 was big, putt on 14 was also pretty big, and just being able to not get too down on myself after not the greatest start.” 

Lurking in third after not being a factor through the first two days is Scottie Scheffler. After a massive third round at the Procore Championship, it appears Scheffler will be a major factor on Sunday.  

Scheffler put up a low score of 64 to move into third at -14. The round was great for Scheffler as he had an astounding 10 birdies. His only slip-up of the day came at the 14th hole when he double-bogeyed. But nonetheless, he is still in after the third day. He birdied 5 of the opening 9 holes and had two stretches where he made three straight birdies. 

“I had a good day today, better than the last two days, for sure,” Scheffler said. “Got off to a good start, had a good front nine, turned nicely. Really just had the hiccup on 14, but other than that, played a pretty good day.”

The major key to Scheffler getting back into it was the fact that he came into the day eight shots back. But this is something he always does with his consistent play to get back into it right before the final round. One of those things he did well was get onto the green in regulation, which he did 16 times. This gives you a chance to score. 

“Hit a lot of greens, holed some putts,” Scheffler explained. “It can be always, it’s always challenging putting on afternoon poa, the ball has a tendency to move around. These greens have a lot of pitch in them as well, but did a good job of holing some nice putts today.”   

The leaders will once again tee off from the first hole at 1:50 pm. Following the final group finishing, the trophy presentation will take place on the 18th green.