What a difference a year makes.
Twelve months after being arrested and driven off to jail in handcuffs during the US PGA Championship, Scottie Scheffler will take a three-shot lead into the final round of the same tournament at Quail Hollow.
Scheffler covered his last five holes in five under par to complete a superb third round of 65 and reach 11 under par, with Sweden’s Alex Noren his nearest challenger on eight under in just his second competitive start since October.
Americans Davis Riley and JT Poston share third place on seven under, with Jon Rahm, halfway leader Jhonattan Vegas and Si Woo Kim on six under.
Bryson DeChambeau is another stroke back – alongside England’s Matt Fitzpatrick – after stumbling badly on the closing three-hole stretch known as “The Green Mile”, the US Open champion dropping a shot on the 16th and making a double bogey on the 17th after finding the water short of the green.
Scheffler’s shocking arrest last year happened before the second round as he attempted to get around the traffic jam caused by an earlier fatal accident outside Valhalla.
The two-time major winner was charged with four offences, including second-degree assault of a police officer, after being instructed to stop his car but continuing to head into the course with the officer “attached” to the vehicle.
A mugshot of Scheffler was later released by the Louisville Metropolitan Department of Corrections, which showed he had been released after an hour and 12 minutes, allowing him to make his delayed tee time and eventually card a remarkable 66.
The charges were eventually dropped but the shocking incident made headlines around the world and Scheffler’s chances of winning the title disappeared with a third round of 73.
On Sunday, he will be a strong favourite to finally get his hands on the Wanamaker Trophy after separating himself from the field with an eagle on the 14th and birdies on the 15th, 17th and 18th.
That finish made Rahm’s task much harder as he bids to add the US PGA title to his Masters and US Open victories.
“It’s hard to express how hungry I may be for a major, about as hungry as anybody can be in this situation,” Rahm said.
Rahm can become the first Spanish player to lift the Wanamaker Trophy, but he added: “It’s so much deeper than that.
“I would be closer to the grand slam, the first Spanish player since Seve [Ballesteros] to reach three majors and the first from Spain to get three different majors. Right now, you are talking about a dream come true.”
Rahm was 45th in the defence of his Masters title last year and missed the cut in the following month’s US PGA following his shock move to LIV Golf, but insisted the two were not related.
“Me going to LIV and playing worse in majors had nothing to do with where I was playing golf,” he said.
“My swing was simply not at the level it had to be for me to compete.
“There’s been weeks where I was able to play better, like The Open last year, but I would say even 2023, after winning the Masters, I did not play good at all until the Ryder Cup, so I think the problems began earlier than people think.
“But I’m now getting closer to a position of being comfortable. I think this week so far and this round has been a show of it.”
Masters champion Rory McIlroy could only card a third round of 72 to be two over par and declined to talk to the media for the third day in succession.
