Scheffler seizes PGA Colonial lead with closing birdie

LOS ANGELES: Top-ranked Masters champion Scottie Scheffler closed with a 30-foot birdie putt to seize a two-stroke lead after Saturday’s wind-whipped third round of the US PGA Charles Schwab Challenge.

The 25-year-old American, chasing his fifth victory of the year, fired a 2-under par 68 to stand on 11-under 199 after 54 holes at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

“The winds were up really high. The greens were actually pretty firm, and so it was challenging,” said Scheffler. “The birdies were not coming easy to anybody out there late in the day.”

Scheffler, among eight players sharing the 18-hole lead and four co-leaders after 36, had not made a bogey over the first 52 holes before stumbling at the 17th.

But he responded with a dramatic birdie at the 18th to stretch his lead back to two entering Sunday’s final round.

“I was glad it was going toward the cup. I hit it a little bit too firm,” Scheffler said of his final birdie. “I struggled a little bit with the speed of the greens today. It’s tough when the wind gets blowing that hard.

“Like 18, I’m putting downhill but straight into the wind. That one I was just trying to make sure I got to the hole because putting downhill when the greens get iffy late in the day is very tough... fortunately that one hit the bottom of the cup.”

An eagle-birdie start helped American Brendon Todd shoot 65, the day’s low round, to share second on 201 with countryman Scott Stallings. American Harold Varner was in fourth on 202.

Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, was on 203 with fellow Americans John Huh and Chris Kirk and Australian Cam Davis.

Scheffler could become the first world No. 1 to win the event since Australian Adam Scott in 2014.

With a victory,