Schauffele Ahead By 1 Entering Final Round Of Travelers Championship

CROMWELL, CT — As the final twosome of the day headed to the first tee at 1:55 p.m. Saturday at the Travelers Championship, Xander Schauffele held a 5-shot advantage over playing partner Patrick Cantlay and four others, on the strength of back-to-back 63s. The pair will be matched up again Sunday as the final group.

Despite posting a 3-under par 67 in the third round, Schauffele actually lost ground, as Cantlay turned in a 63 of his own to narrow the gap to one stroke with 18 holes to play.

Cantlay carded birdies at holes 2, 3 and 6 to make the turn in 32, then birdied every odd hole on the back nine (11`, 13, 15 and 17) to close the deficit to a single stroke.

"I thought I played really well today; I think lowest of the day," Cantlay said. "No real mistakes. I could have made a few more putts, but all in all it was a great round."

Schauffele was 2-under for the day through 12 holes, but a watery bogey at 13 dropped him to 15-under. He recovered to birdie 16 and 17, regaining the advantage.

"I would love to have that tee ball back on 13," Schauffele said. "For the most part, I knew it wasn't going to be easy to protect a lead, especially when it's five shots and it's easy to get comfortable. It's easy to hit it to 30 feet out here with a wedge. But that's just not going to be enough to win. So I got to make a few more birdies tomorrow."

Sahith Theegala, a virtually unknown 24-year-old out of Pepperdine University, stands alone in third at 14-under. He briefly tied Schauffele for the lead with birdies at 15 and 17, but made bogey at 18.

Kevin Kisner is fourth at 13-under, with Martin Laird and K.H. Lee another stroke back at 12-under. Former U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson is among four players at 11-under, while defending champion Harris English and reigning Masters titleholder Scottie Scheffler are joined by two others at 10-under.

The complete scoreboard may be found here.