FORT WORTH, Texas — Ben Griffin and Matti Schmid matched each other again Saturday and will go into the final round at Colonial tied four strokes ahead of the field and with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler lurking not much further back.
Griffin and Schmid each shot 2-under 68 after fast starts they didn’t maintain. They were at 13-under 197 after posting the same score for the third straight day at the Charles Schwab Challenge. They followed opening 66s and then 63s that put them in the lead together.
Rickie Fowler shot 67 and at 201 will be paired with the co-leaders in the final group Sunday when Schmid seeks his first PGA Tour victory and Griffin his first individual title after pairing with Andrew Novak to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans last month. The 36-year-old Fowler, who has dropped to 127th in the world after being in the top 25 as recently as early 2024, hasn’t won since the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit that was his sixth victory and ended a four-year winless streak.
Coming off his third major victory at the PGA Championship a week ago, Scheffler began the day 10 strokes back before a 6-under 64 that got him to 7 under and within six strokes. He would have been closer if not for three bogeys his last seven holes. But, with another big round Sunday, he still has a chance to become the first player since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win in three starts in a row.
Robert MacIntyre and Lucas Glover also shot 64. MacIntyre was in a tie for fourth with Nick Hardy and Akshay Bhatia at 8 under.
Scheffler was on the wrong end of one of the biggest comebacks at Colonial three years ago when Sam Burns overcame a seven-shot deficit in the final round and beat his good friend on a playoff hole. That matched Nick Price’s record seven-shot comeback in 1994, when he caught Scott Simpson and won on the first extra hole.
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Griffin and Schmid had birdies on the first three holes Saturday to get to 14 under and quickly create some separation from the rest of the field. All three birdie putts by Griffin were 7 feet or less, while Schmid had a 40-footer at the 461-yard third hole.
They remained tied until Griffin’s approach at No. 5 adjacent to the Trinity River was out of bounds and resulted in a double-bogey 6. He then missed the green with his approach at the sixth hole before two-putting from 14 feet for bogey.
Griffin got two strokes back with birdies at No. 8 and at No. 10 with a 35-footer. That got him to 13 under, and Schmid dropped back to that when he drove into the right rough and then hit into a bunker on way to a bogey at the 637-yard par-5 11th.
Scheffler, who teed off more than two hours before the co-leaders, was at 8 under after his eagle at No. 11, where he got on the green in two shots and made the 15-foot putt. That followed consecutive birdies as Nos. 9 and 10 and starting the back nine with an approach to 2½ feet.
But back-to-back bogeys followed after Scheffler hit tee shots into bunkers at Nos. 12 and 13. He got those strokes back with birdies at Nos. 16 and 17, only to miss the fairway at No. 18 to finish with another bogey.
The only player to win the Byron Nelson and Colonial in the same season was Ben Hogan in 1946. Scheffler earlier this month won his beloved hometown CJ Cup Byron Nelson when matching the PGA Tour’s 72-hole scoring record at 31-under 253 for an eight-stroke win.
