Scottie Scheffler entered the PGA Championship as the betting favorite and showed why during the third round on May 17.
After finishing solo-fourth at the Masters in April, Scheffler entered the weekend two shots back of the leader Jhonnatan Vegas. He carded a bogey to start the round, which mimed a rollercoaster until his final five holes, which he played in 5-under to give him a 6-under round of 65 and a three-shot lead over Alex Noren.
Following the round he sat down with CBS Sports reporter Amanda Balionis. The interview got off to an inauspicious start when Scheffler sneezed and started coughing immediately after Balionis attempted to ask him a question.
“You know I bogeyed the first, I actually thought I hit two pretty good shots in the air. I just battled really hard today. It was tough out there, those greens were really firming up and the wind was really gusty today – I think that was the most challenging part. The greens were firming up as well, but overall did a really good job of staying patient and hit some nice shots.”
The world No. 1 was later asked about the emotion he showed after birdies on No. 17 and No. 18 to close out the round and give himself a three-shot lead heading into Sunday.
“Well I guess the qualifier there would be ‘big emotion’ for me,” he said with a laugh. “No, I think it was an important time in the round, you know, I wanted to finish out the round the right way and I was able to gain some momentum there with the eagle on No. 14 and [birdie on] No. 15 and hit some good shots down the stretch. It was nice to be able to take advantage of some good shots.”
In a follow-up, Balionis asked the two-time major winner what it would take to earn his first non-Masters major.
“Just more good golf,” he said plainly. “Continue to do what I’m doing – staying in the present. Do what I can do. I have some great players chasing me on the leaderboard and it’s going to take another really good round.”
The golf world love the moment between the two after Scheffler’s impressive round of golf.
“AB is the best. Perfect for a Major,” one person said of Balionis.
“Easy to get nervous around a Bourbon legend,” joked bourbon brand Elijah Craig, of which Balionis has a partnership.
“Cool as a cucumber. The professional,” added a third.
Scheffler and Noren will be back out on the course at 2:40 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon.
