Sepp Straka fired an eight-under 64 on Saturday to take the lead at the Hero World Challenge, carding three birdies and two eagles on par 5s to finish the day at 18-under 198 and enter the final round one shot ahead of Scottie Scheffler.
Straka holed a chip for eagle on the par-5 sixth and later sank an 18-foot eagle putt on the downwind 15th. He also played the par-5 ninth perfectly, hitting a 3-wood that ran out to 15 feet for a two-putt birdie. The Austrian was bogey-free on the day.
“At the start he definitely got it going quick,” Straka said of world No. 1 Scheffler. “It didn’t look like he was going to miss a putt there for a little bit. But it’s golf, it usually evens out a lot and I just tried to focus on my own game.”
Straka had trailed Scheffler by three through five holes and by two with four to play before closing strongly. The only par-4 he birdied was the seventh, where moved-back tees turned the hole into a wedge test to a tough back-left pin; Straka hit to seven feet and converted.
Scheffler, bidding for a third straight title at Albany Golf Club, shot a 65 and sits at 16-under, set to play in the final group with Straka on Sunday. He began the round with five straight 3s — an eagle, two birdies and two pars — and was nine under for the day through 15 holes, but has again slipped late in the round this week: a double bogey on 16 on Thursday, a bogey on 16 on Friday, and a bogey-par-bogey finish on Saturday.
On Saturday’s 16th Scheffler found short grass but then had an awkward stance, tugging his shot left into a bunker where the ball buried, leading to a bogey. He also dropped a shot on the 18th after missing the green to the right and facing a difficult pitch up a slope with water guarding the hole. “A few unfortunate breaks, but overall did some really good stuff,” Scheffler said.
Alex Noren (67) and Hideki Matsuyama (68) sit three shots back of Straka, while JJ Spaun and Wyndham Clark, each at 69, are four behind. Continued coverage of the Hero World Challenge airs on Sky Sports Golf from 4.30pm on Sunday.