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At one point on Saturday, before the final groups begin in the third round, 11 players are tied for the lead in the Wells Fargo tournament. When the final round kicks off on Sunday, that will very much not be the case.
Windham-Clark, behind 63, and Xander Scheufele, behind 64, distanced himself from the rest of the field during the third round, finishing 16-under and 14-under, respectively. No one is better than 11 under.
Here are three storylines to watch in Sunday’s final run:
Wyndham Clark mentality
After his second-lowest round for par in his PGA Tour career, Clark credited his playing with a renewed focus on his mental game. One of his strategies is to read the book, energy bus.
“Power bus. “It sounds kind of weak, but it’s actually a really good book,” Clark said. “[It] It was all about self-talk and positive self-talk and what that can do for your life and just your perspective. I’ve had a lot of other books to read so far.”
Self-help books aside, Clark, the seventh-year pro from the University of Oregon, said he’s tried to focus on his mental approach before, but this time he “got it all in.”
“You know, well, I got so frustrated about playing golf well but not getting results,” he said. I said, ‘Well, that’s kind of the last straw for me. “
His strategic approach to Quail Hollow was shown this week.
Despite his impressive length from the tee, Clark put an iron on the drivable par-4 on Saturday the 14th, as he had done in the previous two rounds. While CBS analyst Trevor Immelman initially questioned the move—Clark was one of only six players to surrender on Saturday—the play led to his second birdie this week in the hole.
He only missed one Green Saturday. At 18, he was just inches off the fetching surface.
If Clark continues to win, he will become the last player to make his Wells Fargo Championship debut on tour. Max Homma, Ricky Fowler, Derek Ernst, Rory McIlroy and Anthony Kim all won for the first time at Quail Hollow.
Xander Schauffele pulls away from Clark
Not since McIlroy’s dramatic 62 win in 2010 has someone made six consecutive seconds into the final six holes at Quail Hollow. Schauffele was just inches away from repeating the feat after he eagled on the 15th and fired the Green Mile opener on the 16th.
His batting birdie slid in a tough 18 after the Cup.
Scoring was about equal on Saturday, not a silly thing, but you have to go back to Adam Svensson on tie nine to find a player on the leaderboard who didn’t break 70 on Saturday (and did make a quadruple on the 18th).
Justin Thomas started the round only once in the seventh under, shot 70 and lost seven strokes for the lead.
However, Schauffele was among a group of players who were surprised to see both himself and Clarke able to pull back.
“It’s just one of those things here, I feel like I’ve said it before in interviews, you just see someone do that,” he said. “Luckily, it was the guy next to me who played all day. As soon as these guys here see someone do it, they end up doing it. Like when it’s really cold and rainy, you feel like, man, I feel like three under is going to be A good score, and then some hit seven-under and then suddenly three-under in like 30. So the guys are really good here. Monkey sees, monkey does is definitely something going on here.”
Clarke agreed that the two were able to pull off each other’s heated runs.
“I chased 13’s and I was kind of steady Eddie and I hit him there and made about eight or 10 feet by 14,” Clark said. “I think that kind of got him to where he’s like, well, now I’m back three, four, I have to put the pedal down. I think that’s kind of what happened, I think maybe he got a little bit more aggressive.”
Adam Scott is chasing his first win in three years
Adam Scott hasn’t won a PGA Tour since before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in February 2020. And on Saturday, he admitted the world upset and subsequent restart was a setback in his game.
“[It] It’s a shame, but it’s what it is,” he said. “I was responsible for all those decisions you made.
“I feel like I worked really hard last year to get myself back to a good place, and this year has been slow moving forward, on the calendar for sure.”
He may have come back five times heading into the final round, but with only two players ahead of him, he said this was his best performance from three runs in this year’s tournament. His last close call in a tournament came in the six-way elimination match of the 2021 Windham Championship.
“It was hard not to get frustrated because there isn’t one thing I can put my finger on as to why we didn’t get better results,” he said. “I play well every week and I’m fine on the PGA Tour, so I’m nowhere with anything.”
He will be in the penultimate pairing with Tyrell Hatton and still thinks someone could come from outside the final group to win on Sunday given how difficult the last three holes are.