Charles Schwab Challenge Round 3: Griffin and Schmid Still Can't Be Separated

Three rounds, three identical scores, and still nothing separating them.

Ben Griffin and Matti Schmid each shot 2-under 68 on Saturday at Colonial Country Club and will take a share of the lead into the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at 13-under 197. For the third straight day they posted the same number, 66, 63 and 68. Rickie Fowler shot 67 and sits alone in third at 9 under, four back, and will join them in the final group. Scottie Scheffler fired a 64 to climb from 10 back to six back.

Matching Cards, Different Roads

Both leaders came out swinging. Griffin and Schmid each birdied the first three holes, Schmid with a bomb from roughly 40 feet at the 461-yard 3rd, and for a few minutes it looked like Saturday would turn into a shootout between the two of them.

Then Colonial pushed back. Griffin's approach at the 5th, the hole that runs along the Trinity River, sailed out of bounds and led to a double bogey. He missed the green at the 6th and two-putted from 14 feet for another dropped shot. In two holes, a hot start was gone.

To Griffin's credit, the round did not unravel. He birdied the 8th, then rolled in a putt from about 35 feet at the 10th to get back to 13 under. All three of his opening birdies came from 7 feet or closer, and the putter showed up again when it mattered.

Schmid, meanwhile, was matching Griffin step for step until the 637-yard 11th. A drive into the right rough, a detour into a bunker and a bogey dropped Schmid back to 13 under, right where Griffin had climbed. Both played the rest of the way in even par, and they finished the day exactly as they started it, tied.

"It seems like me and Matti are going to duel it out a little bit tomorrow," Griffin said, per the AP.

Scheffler's Saturday Charge

The world No. 1 went off more than two hours before the leaders and made the early noise. Starting the day tied for 49th, Scheffler birdied the 1st and 2nd, added birdies at the 6th, 9th and 10th, and then produced the shot of the day at the par-5 11th, a 298-yard approach that set up an eagle and pushed him to 8 under for the tournament and 7 under for the round.

At that point, the round had a chance to get silly. Instead, Scheffler found fairway bunkers off the tee at the 12th and 13th and made bogey on both. Birdies at the 16th and 17th got the round back on track, but a missed fairway at the 18th led to a third bogey in his last seven holes. He signed for 64, seven birdies and an eagle against three bogeys, and sits in a tie for seventh at 7 under with Andrew Novak and Kurt Kitayama.

"I'm just out here battling," Scheffler said. "I had a good day today."

He admitted the first two days could have gone better, and that is the problem. Even with a share of Saturday's low round, he needs one of the leaders to stumble. Win here, and Scheffler would be the first player since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win three straight starts, and only the second after Ben Hogan in 1946 to win the Byron Nelson and Colonial in the same season.

Rickie in the Final Group

Fowler's week keeps getting more interesting. A 67 on Saturday put the 36-year-old alone in third, and he gets a front-row seat to the Griffin and Schmid show on Sunday. Fowler has fallen to No. 127 in the world and has not won since the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic, which ended a four-year drought and gave him his sixth TOUR title.

"I haven't been far off for quite a while," Fowler said.

The Chasers

Robert MacIntyre matched Scheffler's 64 and is tied for fourth at 8 under with Nick Hardy and Akshay Bhatia. Lucas Glover also shot 64 and is at 6 under. The group at 6 under is deep, with Tommy Fleetwood, J.J. Spaun, Ryo Hisatsune, Bud Cauley, Emiliano Grillo and Pak all there.

Pak, the first-round leader, slid back with a 73. Chris Gotterup, alone in fourth after 36 holes, had a rough day with a 75 and fell to 3 under.

History Says Four Is Not Enough

A four-shot cushion over the field sounds comfortable until you look at Colonial's history. Sam Burns came from seven back in the final round in 2022, then beat Scheffler in a playoff. That matched the seven-shot comeback Nick Price pulled off in 1994. Six back is not a hopeless number at Hogan's Alley, especially with the wind able to turn any round sideways.

What is clear is that Sunday starts as a two-player match. Griffin is chasing a first individual title a month after his team win in New Orleans. Schmid, in a 79th start, is chasing a first TOUR win, period. They have been inseparable for 54 holes. Somebody has to blink.

Catch up on the week in our Round 1 recap and Round 2 recap. Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 3 recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 3 recaps and leaderboard), AP, Golf Channel. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.