PGA Saturday: How Scottie Scheffler took firm control at Quail Hollow
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Hello and welcome into this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Lav. Well, for all the hand-wringing about the odd leaderboard here at the 107th PGA Championship, things have normalized. After a red-hot stretch to close out the third round here at Quail Hollow, Scotty Scheffler is now three shots clear of Alex Norn as he looks to claim his third career major championship. Rex, I ask you quite simply, is this thing over?

We might as well just do the 52-minute version right now. Get it over with. We can just fill in the blanks later. Scottie Scheffler won by beep, and we can fill that in later because this is Scottie Scheffler at his best. This is what we saw two weeks ago in Dallas when he won by eight. I was just in his press conference, and I asked him specifically about the 14th hole.

which is the short par four that really he had just bogeyed two of his last three holes. And it was a three wood. And he said, I just executed it perfectly. It was as simple as that. Did I, did he expect to hit it to a foot and a half? No, I just executed it perfectly. And it's worth pointing out that in that press conference, he must've used the word execute. I don't know about 18 Jillian times, which is the mindset, uh,

of the tactician that he is when he's playing his best golf, when there isn't any emotion attached. I'm sure there is emotion deep down inside, but you watch him, and he looks like a machine when he gets to this version. And I'm not saying that there's no one on the leaderboard that can make a run at him. I mean, we're going to talk about Jon Rahm. We can even talk about Bryson DeChambeau. We can talk about Alex Norm, who's in second place right behind him. There's plenty of very good, talented players. They're not Scotty Scheffler, and they're not playing like Scotty Scheffler right now.

This was the first time, Rex, in Sky Shuffler's major championship career that he had the outright best round of the day. Shot 65, and that includes three bogeys.

And what a time for him to shoot that 65. He was in the mix, tied for the lead with Bryce DeChambeau and Jon Rahm. He's playing in the strongest winds of the week, gusts of 25 to 30 miles an hour. And he surged ahead by playing his last five holes in five under par. It was curious to see the win percentage outlook on Data Golf today.

where, uh, sort of late midway through the back nine sky shovel had a 23%, uh, chance to win the golf tournament. According to data golf at this point, he's at 77%. And that seems probably a little bit too low, but when you look at how he closed out his third round, he basically hit eight perfect golf shots. The highlight of course, was the drawing three wood that he hit on 14 to three feet for an Eagle that sort of sent him on his way, but he played, uh,

absolute perfect golf on 15, hitting the fairway on the par five, leaving it in the, in the perfect spot, short and right of,

of the green, chipped it up to four feet, made birdie. On 16, he actually missed about a 12-footer that could have been another birdie, another excellent shot. That was the only one that actually didn't result in that birdie or eagle over his final 90 minutes. He had a bonus birdie with a 17-footer on 17 and then a nine-footer for birdie on 18 from a pretty awkward lie, sort of on a divot or an old divot, like in a little bit of a scene, a very awkward spot for Sky Shuffler on 18. Those are eight birdies

perfect golf shots. He should have used the word execute because this has always been a Quail Hollow, a test of execution, not just precision off the tee and drive the golf ball as long and as straight as you possibly can, but a test of execution into the greens. It's not quite a Gus National because of the severity of the quadrants and the slopes and the undulations, but you do have to sort of carry ridges and make sure you're hitting it to the perfect spot. That's what Sky Shuffle did better than anyone. And now he's positioned for his third career major title.

It was a seven iron on 16. And he said that was the best shot of the day because I was trying to compare it to the three wood, which of course he executed, quote unquote, executed perfectly. And then he was asked by contrast, what was the best shot of the day? I'm thinking the three wood. And he thought about it for a minute. No, it was about a hundred and I think adjusted 192 yards. And that's not a hole you can attack. Certainly from that position, we're kind of shooting downhill. You had a weird wind. That was fascinating to go from three back to,

at one point on the back nine to three up. That's the kind of run that we've come to expect when Scottie Scheffler is playing his best golf. And I know we can probably save this for tomorrow night's 52-minute podcast, which will air on Linear TV on Monday. But to jump ahead, just to think about what we could possibly talk about, if he were to win tomorrow the PGA Championship, he is now on the hook to

to possibly win the career Grand Slam this year if he were to win the USO. I'm not saying he's going to do it. He'd have to win the last three majors of the year. All right. Let's slow down. I understand the math. I understand the math.

I understand now that we talked about after what Rory did, who could do it next? Well, we talked about Jordan Spieth coming into this week. I think my line was, yeah, it's not going to happen this week. It is not going to happen this week. He ended up missing the car. We talk about Phil Mickelson at the U.S. Open. That's not going to happen either. I'm going to go out on a limb there. But here's another narrative that we can have. That's jumping ahead and being a prisoner in the moment. But think about where that would put him.

RIP to Roy McIlroy's single season super slam. At least I never have to say that again. I'll probably trot it out again on Sunday Night's 52-minute podcast because we have to talk about it for so many minutes. However, that certainly appears to be dead after his one-over-par round on Saturday. I'm with you. I'm hoping it's going to get scrubbed from the internet because A.O., Aaron Oberholzer, Paige McKenzie, and I had a discussion on

on Wednesday's Live from the PGA Championship. We went through the current list of players who would be next to capture the career Grand Slam. Scotty on top of your list? Scotty was not on top of our list that day, and we had the caveat of, hey, we could have a very different conversation after this week. However, at this juncture, he at least has the most work to do. I believe we all centered on Xander Shofflea,

sort of owing to his U.S. Open record and his Masters record, both of which are very good. And I said John Robb with the usual live caveats if he can figure some things out. Scotty Shuffler, though, he wasn't roundly dismissed, but to this point, he'd only won the Masters tournament back in 2022 and 2024. This, I think, would obviously put him sort of in the driver's seat to capture that over the next couple of years. Should be very exciting to see. Stay tuned for more of that on Sunday Night's podcast. I know, Rex,

on this evening's live from we're recording this about eight o'clock eastern time on saturday you are finally going to get to this alex noren note that you have been holding i don't know like the last three or four days alex noren though has played his way somehow into

into the final group on Sunday at Qual Hollow. He's playing, competing for just the second time in the past seven months, had a nearly full tear in his hamstring, 90% torn. He could live a full life. You know, it's not a debilitating injury per se. He just couldn't swing a golf club, couldn't run, et cetera, et cetera. How surprised are you to see Alex Noren in the final group alongside Scottie on Sunday?

I wouldn't use surprise. I'd use shock. And what was the injury again? Go ahead. What was the injury? I'll let you take it. Torn hamstring that attaches to the glute. No, it's called the sit bone, but that's not what you were calling it all day long. I believe you're referring to something else. I believe you're referring to it as a butt injury, if I'm not mistaken. Something along those lines. Yes, yes, yes. I won't be using that tonight on live from. No, I won't. It's a fascinating story. It's Turkish. It's Turkish. It's Turkish.

I think no one probably is more shocked that he is in contention than he is. He is a machine. You and I both have marveled over the years of how much work he puts into his craft. We sat here and just watched over the course of this podcast. Scotty Scheffler, go to the range, post round, just like he does after a good round or a bad round with his swing coach, Randy Smith, and work for five or ten minutes.

and then leave. If Alex Norton was in a similar position, he would be out there for an hour until they ran him off because it was dark. That's simply the way he has worked his entire career. Just before the century and Maui to start the season, he partially tore it. It was about a 90% tear. Luckily, he didn't have to have surgery because that would have been an even longer rehab. But there was a part of him that certainly would have thought, I don't know how I'm going to do this. He's not the type of player that would be willing or able to take

essentially three and a half months off. He did enjoy his time off. He said he allowed him to finally spend some time at home. He said the best part of it is he was his daughter's coach for her softball team. And then he kind of broke into how much he has learned about softball the last few weeks, but no, he is a, he is a machine when it comes to working. I don't think anybody will stay on a range longer than him working on one thing. He has a very unique movement, like sort of this pre-swing move that he does, but he,

shocking would be the answer. I don't know that Scotty Scheffler is going to be looking over his shoulder very much at Alex Noren. They might be meeting each other for the first time, to be honest, but I think it is a cool story. It is a cool story. I'm actually just looking this up. Alex Noren had a pair of top 13 finishes last

in the major championships last year. He has always been a ball-striking machine. I think back, I think it was like an Instagram photo of like his calloused, bloody hands. Like the dude is just a relentless worker. And for him to still be going at it as hard as he is at the age of 42 is something to admire. His iron play this week has been typically excellent. He's coupled that with great putting. I have no idea, Rex, what to expect from Alex Norn.

on Sunday. Never been in this position before. Hasn't had a top 10 in a major. I know we talked, just talk about a top 13. He's never had a top 10 in a major in the last eight years is a professional. Good for him. If he has a great Sunday, maybe he gives Scotty Scheffler a bit of a scare. I don't think he's going to be necessarily be phased by the moment.

He's too veteran of a player for that. Let's get into John Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. John Rahm finds himself five shots back heading into the final round. Bryson DeChambeau, a couple of late mistakes, now six shots back. Who do you have more faith in on a Sunday run here at Quail Hollow?

This is probably going to be counterintuitive to what their records say they are at this moment in time, especially what they say they are in the major championships. But I'm going to go with John Rahm. And there was a fascinating Q&A moment of the state of John Rahm's game following that round because there was a reporter who immediately went to the idea of how do you counter what you're doing this week versus what you have done in the majors since you joined Live Golf. It's a conversation you and I have. It's a conversation a lot of people in the golf media had.

And he went into what I would say for him was a lengthy explanation of saying that even before he joined Livgolf, he was not playing his best golf. And after joining, there was things in his swing that just didn't work out. He sort of dismissed the idea, maybe even dismantled the idea, that whatever it is that Livgolf provided to him wasn't what he needed to motivate him for the majors. That is a side of the story. That is certainly his side of the story. I think there's still something to the idea that maybe 54 holes

of team golf and live with shorts on and loud music and everything that goes into it doesn't necessarily necessarily stroke the competitive fires for a guy like John Rahm. But you look at what he has done this week and he played decent at the masters. I don't think you could ever seriously say he contended there, but this is the type of golf course that John Rahm, before he went to live golf, when he was playing some of his best golf, you would 100% expect him to play well there as opposed to,

Bryson DeChambeau, who spoke with the media afterwards. And I have found him a little short this week, just when it comes to his answers, when it comes to his analysis. And that didn't change today because he kind of went through the back nine card. And it seems like the only culprit was he wasn't able to guess which way the wind was going on every shot. I first want to start with with Rahm, because I think we've actually been more measured in our takes of John Rahm than perhaps others have.

of our employer. And I think John Rahm is right in that if you look at his record since 2023, whether it's his results, whether his statistics, any sort of underlying metrics, he has not been the same player since April 2023. He didn't win on the PGA Tour after the Masters in 2023. Even if you look at his live golf record last season, he did not win. He won twice on that circuit. He did not win

until sort of the back half of the season. He won two of his last restarts on live. So he essentially went Rex like a year and a half without winning a golf tournament. Yes, he's gone 19 events in a row without finishing outside the top 10. He's never done it. He's never been worse than 10th on a live circuit. But I think it's worth repeating that had he been at his best, had he been the player that we've seen him be at times, potentially generationally great,

player in the world of golf, he would be winning three, four, five times on live golf. And he hasn't been able to do that. When you look at sort of the culprit, why John Rahm has not been able to do that. I think it first starts with his driving ability. That is the one thing that has stood out to me this week. Bryson DeChambeau is actually not leading in strokes gained off the tee. I wrote an entire story on NBC sports.com slash golf.com.

on Friday about how Bryson's driving. I'm not sure I've ever seen something in person as impressive as it is. Jon Rahm's combination of distance and accuracy actually has him leading that category right now. If...

He has sort of refined his swing and made the couple tweaks with his longtime coach, Dave Phillips, that John Rahm says that he has done. I feel pretty good about him for the rest of the season. Oakmont will be a test that will be right up John Rahm's alley. Port Rush as well was sort of his experience in Lynx golf. I feel good about him there. It's probably too much for him to overcome, particularly against a player like Sky Shuffler, five shots, knowing that Sky Shuffler, the number one player and bogey avoidance is going to be able to sort of

fairway and green this place to death on Sunday. I don't feel good about a John Rahm rally, but I do think the arrow could potentially pointing back up for him as it relates to Bryson. I mean, he was a solo leader with about an hour to go.

in the third round. All of a sudden, he went from one shot clear to now he has six shots behind. You have something to say? Please, sausage finger. Go ahead. No, to that point, because I did want to bring this up. It was a bit of comedy, live comedy that was going on while he was doing his press conference.

Bryson DeChambeau was sort of asked about his position and he kind of glanced at the leaderboard and he goes, well, I'm only three back at the moment. It should be fine. And as he was talking, he went to four back. And before he got out of the chair, he was five back. And now he's six back. I can almost imagine him thinking to himself, what's happening? Just stop talking. Just don't say anything else.

It is. I mean, it is funny and it basically boils down. No, he was Scotty was going to do what Scotty was going to do. It's got, he has made a couple of mentions this week. Like you can't play defense. You can only play the game as you're doing. Whatever Scott is doing is of no bearing to Bryson, but there was a misjudgment of the wind on 16 thought the wind off his right was going to push what he typically hits are these big towering draws back into the fairway. Didn't happen. Left him at bad angle.

missed it short of short left of the green, was unable to make a five-footer for par. I think the big mistake, though, was on 17. He says it was simply just a misjudgment of the wind. He did not come particularly close to

to clearing that front edge with a nine iron ends up making double compounding the mistake, not getting it up and down from the drop zone as well. That bogey double bogey stretch, I think obviously cost him this golf tournament, six shots back. I don't care the run that he can get on potentially on Sunday. I mean, he was absolutely cooking.

in this third round, five under par as he stood on the tee on 16. He just has not been good enough with his irons.

I mean, he's outside the top 50 in proximity to the hole, playing from positions on this golf course that no one else is doing it. I know he says he's working on it. I know he said he was hoping to get a new set of irons in the bag this week. It's just not sharp enough at this point to win a major championship because he's just not capitalizing on some of his mammoth tee shots.

And it feels like a rinse and repeat of what happened at the Masters where his driving was beyond impressive. You're right. When he is on, I would argue, and I think our colleague, Brandel Chamblee, did this argument earlier in the week that we talk a lot about Rory being the best driver of the golf ball. And I think on a week-to-week basis, that's certainly true. But

If you look at what Bryson was able to do with the Masters, I think he probably drove the ball better just from a distance-wise and accuracy-wise. I think that's certainly the case this week. It's the poor iron play, which is, again, shocking to me. I mentioned this on last night's podcast. Those irons, which the bulge face, goes back to last year's Masters when our colleague Todd Lewis reported on it the first time around, and he was developing these, and they were going to be a new set, and he is still playing those exact same irons. He's waiting for others to be developed.

Clearly, there's something between whatever it is he's trying to do with his irons and what's actually happening. And I think when you look at how analytical he is, it's almost shocking that he hasn't been able to, I don't want to say figure this out because I don't think we ever figure out the game of golf. But for someone that is such a scientist when it comes to this and doesn't want variables and wants to make sure that he has every T crossed and every I dotted, it seems like this one he is just simply coming up short in. And it seems so odd because after every press or during...

every press conference, he's like, I just need to drive the golf ball a little bit better. No,

That's not what's holding you back. And I guarantee if you pan to the range tonight at Quail Hollow, he would not be trying to dial in his pitching wedges and his gap wedges from 125 to 150. He'd be staying there absolutely wailing away on driver, trying to maximize and optimize that particular club. It's just not quite sharp enough at this point. Anything else, Rex, you wanted to get into before we wrap up this edition of the Golf Show Podcast with Rex and Lav?

I think you and I both can take a victory lap. We said last night that, look, this thing isn't over. These things have a way of sussing themselves out. And here we are. Scotty Scheffler.

Scottie Scheffler, indeed. Make sure you guys check back in on our Golf Channel podcast with Wrexham Lab on YouTube on Sunday night, a full 52-minute breakdown of this PGA Championship. Of course, we will also be on linear television on Monday morning at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Eastern time. In the meantime, you guys are the drill. NBCSports.com slash golf for all the latest news, notes, and updates. Talk to you guys on Sunday night.

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