Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler chasing leader Nick Taylor on a long day of golf Saturday at 2024 WM Phoenix Open
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Nick Taylor finished only six holes on Saturday at TPC Scottsdale, electing to mark his 6-foot par putt at the seventh green and wait until play resumes in the morning. He chose to do so despite leading the field at the WM Phoenix Open in putting this week and having drained a 48-foot bomb just two holes earlier to the take the tournament lead at 13 under, one stroke ahead of 36-hole leader Sahith Theegala. Asked why he chose to wait despite riding such a red-hot putter, Taylor said, “Because I couldn’t see the hole.”
Good reason, indeed. The horn blew suspending play for darkness at 6:11 p.m. local time, and setting up a marathon Sunday, which presents the distinct possibility of stretching into Monday.
Taylor, a native of Canada who makes his home not far from the tournament and practices here regularly, has good vibes here after finishing second last year.
“A lot of years in a row I didn’t,” said Taylor, who never had finished in the top 10 before last year but now has shot 62 in 2023 and tied the course record on Friday with a 60. “I’m definitely in good position to try to finish it off.”
Here are four more things to know from Saturday at the WM Phoenix Open.
Monday finish on tap?
It could be a long Super Bowl Sunday on the PGA Tour.
The second round didn’t end until 1:49 p.m. local time Saturday and after the cut, the leaders didn’t tee off till 4:10 p.m.
The third round will be completed Sunday morning and the final round will get going soon thereafter. A possible hurdles still exists: overnight low temperatures Sunday morning could lead to the second frost delay of the week. Tour officials likely will make the final decision whether it re-pairs after the third round or sticks with the same pairings based on when the third round resumes. It is scheduled to re-start at 7:30 a.m.
It could end up meaning that a champion is crowned in Scottsdsale around half time of the San Francisco 49ers-Kansas City Chiefs game in Las Vegas.
That’s likely the best-case scenario, which beats a Monday finish. The last time the WM Phoenix Open finished on Monday? It dates back to 2011.
Three-peat is still in play
The dream of a three-peat isn’t dead for Scottie Scheffler.
The world No. 1 played just seven holes on Saturday and remains at 8 under, five strokes back.
Steve Stricker, who won the John Deere Classic in 2009, 2010 and 2011, is the last player to win a PGA Tour event three years in a row. Scheffler is the 21st player to have the opportunity to three-peat since Stricker did it. Scheffler caught a greenside bunker at the second hole and made bogey but bounced back with a birdie at the par-5 third. He’s even through seven holes of his third round after opening with scores of 68 and a bogey-free 66.
Scheffler didn’t stop to speak after the round but his comments on Friday still ring true.
Asked if he thinks he can win the title for a third straight time, something only Arnold Palmer has done in the tournament’s illustrious history, Scheffler said, “Yeah, I don’t see why not.”
Scheffler earned his first PGA Tour victory at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open in a playoff over Patrick Cantlay and repeated by holding off Taylor and Jon Rahm. So far this week, Scheffler has posted scores of 68 and 66 and was even on Saturday.
“I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing, plotting along and taking advantage of my opportunities,” he said. “The last two days I really haven’t played the back nine as well as I would like to. I haven’t really taken advantage of some of the scoring holes back there, so I’m looking to improve on that the next couple days.”
Theegala: ‘I usually am not ugly crying like that’
Sahith Theegala has unfinished business at the Phoenix Open. Two years ago, he had a chance to win the title until his tee shot at 17 got a bad bounce and kicked into the water. Leading up to this week’s event, he happened to see that tee shot again.
“I was like, ‘gosh, how did that bounce left,’” he said. “Just kind of fired me up and gave me a little extra motivation.”
Theegala has a chance to make amends on Sunday. He followed up his 65 on Thursday in the worst of the weather – “the first day was just a straight endurance test,” he said. “Honestly one of the best rounds I’ve played on Tour” – with a second-round 64 to grab the 36-hole lead.
“It was still freezing until like hole 6 or 7, but we finally got some very scorable conditions,” Theegala said. “No wind, soft greens.”
But the third round didn’t begin well for Theegala. He started with back-to-back bogeys, as many bogeys as he had made in his first 36 holes. He bandaged the wound with a par at the third and stuck his tee shot at the par-3 fourth to 6 feet and made birdie. Theegala finished at 12 under through seven holes of the third round, one stroke off the lead.
“I want it bad,” said Theegala, who won his first Tour title in September at the Fortinet Championship. “I’m a competitor.”
A year ago, Theegala had about 60 friends and family cheering him on. He could barely speak in his media interview and then hugged his mother outside and broke into tears, the only time he’s ever cried over golf.
“It was just like a culmination of everything, and then my first time really being in the heat of the moment and just feeling like I had kind of let everybody else down, including myself,” Theegala said. “I’m an emotional guy, but usually am not ugly crying like that.”
Spieth finishes with flurry of birdies, lurking 3 back
Jordan Spieth played 25 holes on Saturday. After wrapping up a 5-under 66, he drove back to his rental to relax. When he headed back to TPC Scottsdale, he had to take an alternative route.
“I couldn’t come the same direction. The police officers had blocked it off, so I drove up and I said, ‘How am I supposed to get back to the course?”
Spieth managed to get to the course and he made three birdies and one bogey on the front nine of his third round. He capped his day in near darkness with back-to-back birdies, including a 33-foot putt at the ninth, to improve to 10-under and fifth place as he seeks his first win since the 2022 RBC Heritage.
“I had some sloppy bogeys on 8 and 9 earlier today, so this time around, I stood on the 8th tee and thought, let’s just hit four good shots and try and steal a birdie by the turn,” he recalled after play was suspended. “I was trying to slow play on 9 and not hit the putt. We knew they were going to blow the horn any second, and then it was time to go, so I hit it and hoped and I was just trying to get it somewhere honestly in a three-foot circle. It was pretty dark on the green. Certainly fortunate there. I feel like I’ve had a few long ones go in, a couple chip-ins this week, and I really would like to tighten it up a little bit more and not rely on those.”
