CROMWELL, Conn. — Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay are used to playing together as friends, and they have won together as teammates, at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans back in April.
“We definitely bring out the best in each other,” Cantlay said then.
Paired as competitors for the third round of the Travelers Championship, they pushed each other again Saturday. Schauffele, who started the day with a five-stroke lead, was worried about being “hunted down,” and Cantlay did some hunting.
Schauffele shot 67 — and lost ground. He’ll take a one-stroke lead over Cantlay into what is shaping up as another of those dramatic finishes the Travelers is known for.
“It will be fun,” Schauffele said. “I’ve been looking forward to playing with Pat in a final round. We don’t get paired together very often in regular tournaments, only in those team ones. So there’s a certain level of comfort we have playing with each other and hopefully that pays off and hopefully we can make a lot of birdies.”
Schauffele, 28, has been rock steady, with back-to-back 63s to start the tournament. On Saturday, he extended his run to 48 holes without a bogey until hitting his tee shot into the water on No. 13. He scrambled back to take a six on the par-5 hole, then birdied 16 and 17 to take back the lead.
“He’s very consistent,” Cantlay said. “I think you saw that today. Even when he hit a loose shot or something he didn’t let that affect him. Didn’t make too many mistakes. He closed with a few birdies. So I expect a great challenge out there tomorrow.”
Cantlay, 30, has seven PGA Tour wins and was the FedEx Cup champ in 2021. He’s best known at TPC River Highlands for shooting a 60 in 2011, the lowest round ever for an amateur on the PGA Tour. He’s never finished higher than a tie for 11th in the Travelers, though.
“It’s just a good memory that I draw on almost every time I come back to this tournament,” Cantlay said.
Schauffele, the Olympic gold medalist in Tokyo, calls Cantlay’s game “surgical.”
“Does all the things really well,” Schauffele said. “Very steady. Easy guy to follow off the tee, obviously. He just doesn’t make many mistakes. We sort of play golf in a similar fashion. We see eye-to-eye on several topics and have a lot of commonalities. Our girls get along great. We really enjoy spending time together in those team events and outside of golf as well. ”
The TPC gives and it takes. Rory McIlroy, the No. 2 player in the world, appeared to be in complete control Friday, but never recovered from that quadruple bogey on No. 12. He was 2-over par on Saturday. Scottie Scheffler, ranked No. 1 in the world, made a move shooting 65, but he’ll start the final round seven shots back.
When Schauffele, who scrambled out of the rough on No. 7 and out of the bunker on 10 to save par both times, stumbled on 13, Sahith Theegala surged into the lead. Theegala eagled 13 and was looking like the front-runner until an errant tee shot left him with a bogey on 18. He finished with 64, trailing the leader by three, with a chance to be the 17th pro get his first win at the Travelers.
“I thought I was pretty steady for the most part,” Schauffele said. “I would love to have that tee ball back on 13. 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’m going to have to make more birdies [Sunday].”
Cantlay, who missed a hole-in-one by 11 inches on No. 11 and 13 feet on No. 16, came up fast on his partner with seven birdies, no bogeys on his card.
“I could have made a few more putts, but all in all it was a great round,” Cantlay said.
With Schauffele and Cantlay finishing together, Theegala one twosome ahead, Scheffler lurking back there, all the elements are in place, along with excellent weather and swelling crowds, for another Sunday of signature moments. No coasting, no playing it safe.
Anyone up for another eight-hole playoff?
“Patrick has more experience than I do in that department,” Schauffele said. “... I think it probably helps that I’m playing with him, since I kind of know his game really well. I can kind of club off him, if anything. It’s going to be a lot of fun tomorrow. I’ve been looking forward to hashing it out with Pat, and not on a Tuesday.”
