HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Seems solely the rain can cease Masters champion Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler holed a troublesome pitch for eagle on his second gap Sunday to construct some separation within the RBC Heritage and appeared so flawless that it was solely a matter of time.
After which he ran out of time. A storm system with heavy rain stopped play for 2½ hours, and Scheffler was in a position to get by means of solely 15 holes when darkness pressured a Monday end. He led by 5 pictures with nobody significantly difficult him.
“Everyone seems to be attempting to chase Scottie, and he is making it actually robust as a result of he retains profitable,” U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark mentioned after giving it his finest effort.
Clark, who began the ultimate spherical 7 pictures behind, opened birdie-eagle-birdie and at one level bought to inside 1 shot of Scheffler. He was 8 underneath by means of 11 holes till an journey into the bushes proper of the twelfth fairway led to double-bogey.
Clark already has completed runner-up to Scheffler twice on this wonderful run, at Bay Hill and The Gamers Championship in consecutive weeks in March. He no less than managed to complete his spherical at 6-under 65 and posted at 15-under 269.
Patrick Cantlay and J.T. Poston joined him at 15 underneath and have been simply off the 18th inexperienced. Sahith Theegala additionally was 15 underneath and in the correct tough on the sixteenth gap.
The ultimate spherical is about to renew at 8 a.m. ET Monday. Scheffler has three holes separating him from a fourth victory in his previous 5 tournaments, a degree of dominance not seen on the PGA Tour because the prime of Tiger Woods.
The exception in his streak was a runner-up end within the Houston Open, when he misinterpret a birdie putt from 5 ft that might have pressured a playoff.
Now he’s on the verge of changing into the primary participant since Bernhard Langer in 1985 to win the week after slipping on the Masters inexperienced jacket.
Scheffler was relentless as ever Sunday, particularly on the finish.
On the par-5 fifteenth, he hit his second shot into the water fronting the inexperienced, which he assumes was on account of mud on the underside of his ball. Going through a fourth shot with bushes blocking a direct path to the flag, he hit a shot with sufficient spin to experience the slope all the way down to 12 ft.
The horn to cease play had already sounded. Scheffler selected to complete and frivolously pumped his fist when he made it for par. That prolonged his streak to 66 straight holes at par or higher.
Scheffler confirmed extra emotion for that par than for his eagle on the second gap or the 2 birdies that adopted.
“I felt just like the par was fairly necessary tonight, simply having the ability to fall asleep and nonetheless conserving a clear card,” he mentioned. “I felt like I bought a nasty break there within the fairway. I have not needed to hit a shot like that in a very long time, so I figured there should have been mud on the underside of the ball. Simply good to maintain the cardboard clear.”
If it is a battle for second place — identical to it was on the Masters final week when Scheffler gained by 4 pictures — there was motive for Cantlay and Poston to attend.
Second place alone is price $2.16 million, some $800,000 greater than a four-way tie for second.
Cantlay marked his ball subsequent to the collar of tough left of the inexperienced. Poston was wanting the inexperienced, some 30 yards from the again left pin.
Nobody has an opportunity of catching Scheffler until the world’s No. 1 golfer makes a collection of blunders within the morning, and that appeared unbelievable.
Scheffler has not made worse than par since a double-bogey on the third gap Thursday. He had a streak of 53 holes — courting to the fifteenth gap of the opening spherical — with out something larger than a 4 on his scorecard.
He started the ultimate spherical with a 1-shot lead over Sepp Straka and asserted himself on the par-5 second gap. His second shot caught the again slope of a entrance bunker and shot it over the inexperienced, leaving him a pitch up towards mounds, short-sided given the inexperienced ran away from him.
It got here off completely, bouncing brief and proper, crawling up the slope and feeding down into the cup. Scheffler simply checked out his caddie, Ted Scott, his backside lip barely jutted as if to say, “Not unhealthy.”
After which each gap besides No. 8, he was placing for birdie. He missed two possibilities inside 10 ft however dealt with the par-5 fifth with ease and holed a 6-foot birdie putt on the thirteenth, when his strategy narrowly cleared the steep railroad ties framing the entrance bunker.
All he has to do now could be end to gather one other $3.6 million test earlier than he heads house, the place his spouse is due with the couple’s first baby the next week.
9 gamers have to complete, a bunch that doesn’t embrace Tom Hoge.
Hoge elected to complete the 18th after the horn sounded. His tee shot sailed out of bounds. His fourth shot went into the native space, and Hoge chopped his strategy to a quintuple-bogey 9. That gave him a 74, dropping him from a tie for sixth to a tie for 18th.
