Scheffler surges late to take 3-shot lead at Quail Hollow

Scottie Scheffler is poised for a Sunday coronation at the PGA Championship.

The World No. 1 pulled away from the field late in Round 3 at Quail Hollow, recording an eagle and four birdies on the closing nine to carry a three-stroke lead over Alex Noren to Sunday.

Scheffler's charge began with a near-ace on the 305-yard par-4 14th to leave a tap-in eagle that brought him level with Noren. However, he was far from finished. A birdie on the par-5 15th was expected, but playing the vaunted final three-hole stretch dubbed "The Green Mile" in 2-under is almost unheard of.

That was enough to push him far clear of the field, with only three players within four strokes of his lead heading into Sunday. That's a key number because 37 of the last 40 PGA Championship winners have been within four shots entering the final round.

Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are certainly the most heralded of the chasers, but the two are five and six shots off the pace, respectively. That makes it a tall task to come from behind against a man who's converted his last seven 54-hole leads into victories.

For most of the afternoon, it looked like an eye-popping three-man duel between Scheffler, Rahm, and DeChambeau would be Sunday's story. The LIV Golf stars both made plenty of noise early to fly up the leaderboard and put a charge into the crowd.

DeChambeau, in particular, looked primed to be Scheffler's biggest challenger, but a bogey on No. 16 and a disastrous double-bogey on No. 17 likely dashed his hopes of a third major title. The 2024 U.S. Open champion admitted the gusty winds were an issue down the stretch, especially on the 17th.

"Hit a great 9-iron exactly the way I wanted to. The wind just pumped it. Nothing I can do," DeChambeau said, according to ASAP Sports. "Wind flipped from being neutral off the right like it was on 4, I believe, and it just was almost straight in, and we misjudged that, considering on 16 we thought it was playing almost a little downwind."

DeChambeau's late fade means the three closest challengers have zero major wins between them in Noren, Davis Riley, and J.T Poston. Lightning could strike and one of those veteran TOUR pros could make a run, but it's more likely the engraver for the Wanamaker Trophy will start working on Scheffler's name early in the afternoon.