Part of the lead was missing from Scottie Scheffler, who briefly had the lead to himself.
Scheffler holed an 18-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th just as Young finally cooled off by missing an 8-foot par putt on the 18th. That put Scheffler at 11 under par for a one-stroke lead that lasted the entire hole.
He hit his tee shot on the 16th for the second day in a row, this time having to take a penalty shot to get out of a palmetto bush. He then misjudged the trajectory of a blind shot and it flew off the top of another palmetto bush, leading to a double bogey.
Akshay Bhatia birdied the 18th for a 68 to join former US Open champion Wyndham Clark (68), Spaun (68), Matsuyama (66) and Young (64).
They were at 10-under 134 at Albany Golf Club, where nearly half the 20-man field was separated by two shots on the weekend.
Spaun made just five eagles all season and then grabbed the scoring holes. He hit a 3-wood to 10 feet on the par-5 sixth and hit a tee shot on the reachable par-4 14th 5 feet away, both eagles. He narrowly missed a 15-foot Eagle Putt on the par-5 15th.
This allowed him to recover from a pair of bogeys on the first four holes.
“I didn’t have a great start, but managed to save a pretty decent lap,” Spaun said.
Bhatia redeemed himself in his final tournament before getting married at the end with a nifty par save from just before the 16th green and then a bogey on the par-3 17th when he chipped through the green and into a bunker, shot out and made a 15-foot putt to keep things from getting worse.
He has a new caddie for this week, Joe Greiner, Max Homa’s old looper until earlier this year. Bhatia likes that Greiner also swings left-handed and that their communication is working.
Scheffler had a 69 and was tied at 9-under 135 with Alex Noren (66) and Sepp Straka (69), while former Albany resident Justin Rose took another shot back after a 68.
“I think I did some good things there. Just a few too many mistakes, but overall it still felt pretty good,” Scheffler said.
Billy Horschel had a 68 and was five shots behind. He missed most of this year after hip surgery and is the only player in the 20-man field not to secure a spot in the Masters. Horschel is ranked No. 45 in the world – the top 50 at the end of the year get to compete in the Masters – and a solid finish could settle that.
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