win

Andrea Kimi Antonelli captures maiden F2 win as Mercedes F1 decision looms andrea,kimi,antonelli,captures,maiden,f,win,as,mercedes,f,decision,looms,sbnation,com,front-page,formula-one

On: July 6, 2024 By: admin

As far as Saturday’s go, it was an impressive one for young Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

And one that added an important item to his resume as a decision looms at Mercedes.

Antonelli captured the Formula 2 Sprint Race in wet and rainy conditions, leading every lap from reverse pole position to score his maiden win in F2.

The victory comes as questions linger about the second seat at Mercedes on the F1 grid for 2025, and whether Antonelli will be ready to make the jump from just one season in F2 to the highest level of single-seater racing. Antonelli, who is yet to turn 18, skipped F3 altogether, and while his already impressive resume has him as the leading candidate for the seat Lewis Hamilton will vacate at the end of the season, it lacked a win in F2.

That changed today.

Antonellii’s maiden F2 win also comes during a week where Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff addressed Antonelli’s “tricky” F2 campaign, and opened the door to options for next season beyond the young phenom.

“Yeah, the season has been a bit tricky because overall the two have not been on a level and I think the team recognises that. That wasn’t great, but last weekend was pretty good. The pace was there, there were mistakes in getaways, so that’s something a rookie needs to learn, that’s clear,” said Wolff when asked about Antonelli during Friday’s FIA Press Conference.

“But he has a lot of pressure. He’s being talked a lot about. His junior formula and go-karting track record is one of a kind. And that’s clear that the pressure ramps up. But it’s like his father says, a champion needs to be thrown in the cold water and needs to swim. So they are very clear about that,” continued Wolff. “But the driver market at the moment is quite a dynamic, interesting thing. I think because some of the drivers have more options and some of the teams have more options. So it’s interesting. And you know, it’s like Bernie [Ecclestone] said: ‘last week I had an opinion, this week I have a different one’.”

Wolff then talked about how Antonelli was handling all the expectations and pressure, drawing a comparison to fellow F2 driver Oliver Bearman, who made some news this week when Haas announced he would be driving for them full-time in F1 next year.

“What I like in terms of his attitude, generally his family, who has been always close to him, is the objective assessment of a situation, and that is good or not good enough. And I don’t think that the pressure harms at all the way he performs in the car and how he drives. You can clearly see it’s a good benchmarking with Ollie Bearman,” said Wolff. “They are pretty close. Ollie had an obviously very good race in Austria and Kimi on the Sunday, had a clutch release issue in the second race. So you’ve got to swim. That’s clear. It was a rapid career progression. He’s 17. Hasn’t got even a driving license for a road car. And the best ones will be able to cope with that, with the amount of scrutiny and the pressure, and it’s going to get bigger.”

If Saturday’s F2 Sprint Race is any indication, Antonelli is starting to handle that pressure rather well.

John Deere Classic: Sepp Straka’s 2023 win changed everything john,deere,classic,sepp,straka,s,win,changed,everything,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: July 3, 2024 By: admin

Sepp Straka fired off a final-round 62 at last year’s John Deere Classic to win his second PGA Tour victory.

A few weeks after his win at TPC Deere Run, he went on to post a runner-up finish at the Open Championship. He then went on to make his Ryder Cup debut later that fall, helping the Europeans trounce the Americans in Italy.

His impressive come-from-behind victory at the John Deere Classic changed everything for the Austrian golfer.

“It was an incredible part of last year,” Straka said on Wednesday.

“I was playing some pretty good golf but wasn’t getting much out of it, and that all flipped here. I went to the Open and had another really great week, my best finish in a major. Ended up making it to Atlanta. Playing on the Ryder Cup was definitely the highlight of the year, but that wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t get hot here at the John Deere.”

Straka has played in 17 events so far this season, recording four top 10s and nine top 25s. He has made 12 of 17 cuts.

The former Georgia Bulldog finished T-5 back-to-back weeks at the Charles Schwab Challenge and The Memorial. A tie for 56th at the U.S. Open was sandwiched between those starts, although Straka made an incredible hole-in-one on Friday at Pinehurst No. 2.

He most recently played at the Travelers Championship, tying for 23rd. Yet, he has not won since triumphing at this event last year.

Straka felt his putter cooperated better a year ago, so perhaps TPC Deere Run will boost his momentum. He is currently 90th in strokes gained putting, 30 spots worse than where he finished last year in this metric.

“I made pretty good changes and am trending with the putter nicely,” he said.

“I think that’s helped. I’ve been hitting the ball well, hitting a lot of fairways, and giving myself a lot of opportunities. It’s been nice to have a lot of good events in the summer months. This is kind of the time you want to be playing well.”

Last year, the Austrian was the last player in the Tour Championship field.

Straka now sits 17th in the FedEx Cup standings this time around and is 24th in the world. The 31-year-old is trying to return to Atlanta and keep his hot streak going.

To get to Atlanta, a player must finish inside the Top 30 of the FedEx Cup standings. Straka is safely in right now, but playing well could help him out even more. The PGA Tour staggers the starting scores in Atlanta. First place starts at 10-under. Second place is at 8-under, third sits at 7-under, fourth is 6-under, and fifth is 5-under.

Players ranked 6-10th will begin the tournament at 4-under. Those ranked 11-15th start a 3-under, a 2-under start goes to the players ranked 16-20th, the 21-25th players are at 1-under, and the final four players start at even par.

If the Tour Championship started next week, Straka would start at 2-under, so if he played well in the next few weeks, he could earn a better starting score.

“You always want to finish the year in Atlanta,” Straka said.

“Don’t want to miss out on the last tournament. I feel like the last couple of months, I’ve given myself a pretty good chance to get there. Few more tournaments left, one major, and then the points ramp up for the playoffs. There is a lot of movement this late in the season, and if you can play, it’s really nice to be in Memphis in a good position.”

Straka will attempt to become the first repeat champion at the John Deere Classic since Steve Stricker won three in a row from 2009 to 2011.

He is paired with 2021 John Deere Classic winner Lucas Glover and 2015 PGA Championship winner Jason Day on Thursday and Friday. They tee off at 1:49 p.m. ET for Round 1 and 8:29 a.m. ET for the second round.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.

PGA Tour: Can Jordan Spieth win John Deere Classic again? pga,tour,can,jordan,spieth,win,john,deere,classic,again,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: July 1, 2024 By: admin

Jordan Spieth arrives at the John Deere Classic as one of the betting favorites, according to DraftKings. But the three-time major winner has hardly played like a tournament favorite throughout the 2024 season.

He has had a frustrating campaign, especially after missing the cut at Augusta National. Since then, Spieth has made eight starts. He missed the cut twice and did not post a finish better than T-29. That somewhat respectable result came at the Wells Fargo Championship, where he shot only one round in the 60s: an opening round 2-under 69.

But these last few months have served as a microcosm of Spieth’s career over the past seven years—a stretch filled with disappointment and agony, considering his stature and accomplishments. He has won only two tournaments since his Open Championship triumph at Royal Birkdale in 2017: the 2021 Valero Texas Open and the 2022 RBC Heritage.

Since then, he has had a few calls, finishing runner-up to K.H. Lee at the 2022 AT&T Byron Nelson and losing to Matt Fitzpatrick in a playoff at the 2023 RBC Heritage. He has 13 top 10s dating back to April 2022 but has missed 11 cuts since that juncture, too.

And yet, despite those ups and downs, Spieth, now 30 years old, has a tremendous perspective on where he is at this point in his career.

“Once I know what I’m capable of, I want to obviously stay there. If you fall from that even a little bit, it frustrates you, and then if you fall quite a bit from that, you can be wondering what in the world is going on,” Spieth said ahead of this year’s Charles Schwab Challenge in mid-May.

“It can overtake you, and it did for me for a little while. I think I have a better perspective now, but at the same time, the drive to get to where I know my ceiling has never been higher. So, every day I’m not there, I still walk away feeling like I progressed towards it; I walk away really pleased with my day. But some days, I feel like I didn’t, and instead of being okay with that, I lose a little patience because I know what I am capable of, and not sustaining that every year is something that I’m not okay with personally.

“I think it’s something I wouldn’t change anything that’s ever happened to me. I’ve accomplished pretty much all the goals that I had in golf, albeit, you know, in a short period of time, but the nature of sustaining that is something that I would like to have another opportunity at, and I’ll continue to work towards.”

Spieth went on to tie for 37th that week at Colonial, the course not far from his hometown of Dallas, Texas. He then missed the cut at the Memorial, tied for 41st at the U.S. Open, and most recently struggled at the Travelers Championship, finishing T-63—almost dead last.

But now, after a week off, Spieth arrives in the Quad Cities hoping to establish some momentum before the season’s final major. He has won the John Deere Classic twice, in 2013 and 2015, but nothing says he cannot make it a third time this year—especially since the best player in the field, Patrick Cantlay, withdrew.

Jordan Spieth, PGA Tour, John Deere Classic — Jordan Spieth won the 2013 John Deere Classic in a five-hole playoff. He was only 19 years old then.

And yet, the question is, how?

For starters, Spieth has to gain some confidence in his short game again, an attribute that has been very un-Spieth-like this season. He ranks 78th on tour in strokes gained around the green and 80th in putting—a surprising figure given how good he was with his flat stick when he was at the height of his powers.

Spieth also has to improve his ball striking. He is 110th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: approaching the green, 70th in greens in regulation percentage, and 86th in proximity to the hole. He has especially struggled with his wedges, ranking 130th in approaches from inside 100 yards, another jarring statistic that is very un-Spieth-like.

So this week, at TPC Deere Run, a course that yields plenty of birdies, Spieth should play to the middle of the greens and look to avoid the big numbers. He already makes tons of par breakers, making more than four per round, but the problem is that Spieth drops too many shots. He makes bogey nearly 17% of the time this season, ranking 139th on tour in bogey avoidance—a reality that will not win you many golf tournaments.

Thus, Spieth must play conservatively and not press too much on a golf course that gives the player a green light in more ways than one. And if he can do that, Spieth will have a good chance of doing a victory lap in one of those famous green John Deere tractors on Sunday night.

That would undoubtedly shake off his frustrations.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

India’s Cricket World Cup win was not possible without this unreal catch india,s,cricket,world,cup,win,was,not,possible,without,this,unreal,catch,sbnation,com,front-page,cricket

On: July 1, 2024 By: admin

India took home the Cricket World Cup on Saturday with a nail-biting victory over South Africa in the final. The match came down to the wire, and there’s a very real chance that India could have lost without these heroics from SuryaKumar Yada.

In cricket the ball must always be in the field of play to be ruled as a catch. If Yada caught the ball and stepped out it would have been ruled as six runs. If he batted the ball down inside the field of play it would have given the batsmen ample time to record runs as well. So the only option was to catch the ball, throw it back inbounds, the run in and make a double catch — without stepping out.

It’s easier said than done, and requires incredible focus as well as processing speed. It’s not something you see very often, especially at a moment this important. At this stage in the final a full six runs would have put South Africa in the driver’s seat to win. Instead they lost a critical batsman that helped propel India to win the World Cup.

LPGA: Dow Championship sees pair of former World No. 1s win title lpga,dow,championship,sees,pair,of,former,world,no,s,win,title,sbnation,com,golf,lpga-golf,golf-news

On: June 30, 2024 By: admin

Although Nelly Korda currently occupies the top spot in the Women’s World Golf Rankings, Ruoning Yin and Atthaya Thitikul looked like the best players on the planet on Sunday.

Yin and Thitikul, both 21, briefly held the World No. 1 moniker last fall but have since given that distinction to Korda. Yet, these two players, who hail from China and Thailand, respectively, carded an 8-under 62 in best ball format to win the Dow Championship by one.

The Dow Championship is not unlike the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on the PGA Tour, which employs a two-man format with two rounds of Alternate Shot and two rounds of Best Ball. Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry won this year’s event at TPC Louisiana, marking McIlroy’s 25th career win on the PGA Tour and Lowry’s third.

Sunday’s win for Yin and Thitikul marked their third career LPGA victory, as they defeated 54-hole leaders Jennifer Kupcho and Ally Ewing by a stroke.

Kupcho and Ewing began Sunday’s final round at 15-under, while Yin and Thitikul sat at 14-under. The Americans went on to shoot a 6-under 64, but it was not enough. Kupcho and Ewing made pars over the final three holes, while Thitikul stuffed one inside of 10 feet on the par-3 18th hole. She then made the birdie putt for her and Yin, which proved to be the difference in the end.

The LPGA will have one week off before the Amundi Evian Championship, the fourth major of the season. France’s Celine Boutier won this title last year at the Evian Resort Golf Club, which sits along Lake Geneva on the French-Swiss border. Surely, Yin and Thitkul will arrive in France for the Amundi Evian Championship as two of the favorites.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

DP World Tour’s Italian Open sees Marcel Siem win in playoff dp,world,tour,s,italian,open,sees,marcel,siem,win,in,playoff,sbnation,com,golf,golf-dp-world-tour,golf-news

On: June 30, 2024 By: admin

The DP World Tour has officially awarded Marcel Siem as the ‘Comeback King,’ and rightfully so. The 43-year-old Siem underwent hip surgery in February, roughly one year after winning the Hero Indian Open, which marked his first title since 2014.

He subsequently missed three months, returning to the Soudal Open in late May, where he missed the cut. Siem said he felt old that week because of his hip, a far cry from the emotions he felt on the 18th green on Sunday. The German defeated Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland in a sudden-death playoff, making an 8-footer for birdie on 18 to clinch his sixth career victory on the DP World Tour.

“Holing that putt on 18 was one the coolest moments in golf for me, and doing it again in a playoff was fantastic,” Siem said.

“I love this sport, and these moments, I work really hard for them. When you get rewarded like this, it’s a very special moment. I think it’s the second-oldest trophy in mainland Europe. So I’ve got the French Open and this one now. I’m so proud of that. My journey is just beginning, it feels like.”

Siem looked in control of the tournament after birdieing the par-3 8th, as he went on to card a 3-under 32 on the front to make the turn at 13-under overall.

But the train veered off the tracks for Siem on his second nine. He bogeyed the par-4 11th, thanks to a terrible lie he faced to the right of the green. He then went on to bogey the 14th, 16th, and 17th holes, dropping him to 9-under-par for the championship and in a dire situation.

While Siem faltered down the stretch, McKibbin, who carded a 6-under 65 earlier in the day, waited in the clubhouse at 10-under-par. The 21-year-old from Belfast looked unflappable on Sunday, making six birdies to zero bogies. He posted the lowest round of the day at the Adriatic Golf Club Cervia—located on the Italian coast about 100 miles south of Venice. He waited three hours to see if he would make a playoff, but it was almost good enough for the victory.

Meanwhile, Siem, who has a penchant for bouncing back, did just that on the 72nd hole. He holed a 22-footer for birdie to match McKibbin and force a playoff, which he wound up winning.

Now, the German has two goals in his career: to play in the Ryder Cup and make it to the Masters. He has never played at Augusta National before. But if he can secure another victory this year on the DP World Tour and shoot up the season-long rankings, perhaps he will earn his PGA Tour card in December through the top 10 eligibility rankings.

Beginning last year, the top 10 players—not otherwise exempt—in the final DP World Tour standings received invitations to join the PGA Tour. Matthieu Pavon took full advantage of this opportunity—the Frenchman earned his PGA Tour card in December and then won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in January, which booked his ticket to Augusta.

Maybe Siem can follow a similar blueprint, but he still has some work to do. His win propelled him 95 places in the Race to Dubai standings, yet he sits in 31st.

Nevertheless, he had already qualified for the Open Championship at Royal Troon, so perhaps the ‘Comeback King’ can make some noise there.

The same mantra applies to McKibbin, who, as a consolation prize, earned a trip to Royal Troon via the Open Qualifying Series. The R&A invited the top two finishers from the Italian Open—not otherwise exempt—to join the field of 156 in Scotland in three weeks. Sean Cocker of the United States received the other invite.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

Scottie Scheffler’s Travelers win produces TV ratings bump for CBS scottie,scheffler,s,travelers,win,produces,tv,ratings,bump,for,cbs,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: June 25, 2024 By: admin

Scottie Scheffler’s historic sixth win of the season at the Travelers Championship produced a nice ratings bump for CBS Sports and the PGA Tour.

The network delivered its most-watched Travelers Championship final round since 2021, up seven percent from the 2023 edition, which saw New England native Keegan Bradley triumph in front of his hometown crowd.

Sunday’s coverage averaged 2.607 million viewers and peaked with 4.330 million viewers between the 4:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. ET quarter hour—impressive metrics considering the PGA Tour bumped tee times up an entire hour due to pending weather. The 2.607 million viewers is in reference to the 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET window. It is also worth noting that the playoff between Scheffler and Tom Kim concluded before 5:00 p.m. ET, a full hour before CBS typically concludes its final-round coverage.

In addition, CBS Sports announced that Sunday’s final round was the most-streamed Travelers Championship round ever on its streaming platform, Paramount+. The network did not provide specific numbers related to its streaming service.

Nevertheless, these numbers come on at the end of a thrilling three-week stretch.

Before the Travelers Championship, Scheffler fended off Collin Morikawa at the Memorial, and Bryson DeChambeau won the U.S. Open in one of the best major championships in recent years.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

LIV Golf: Tyrrell Hatton’s win could propel him to Open glory liv,golf,tyrrell,hatton,s,win,could,propel,him,to,open,glory,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-opinions,liv-golf

On: June 24, 2024 By: admin

Tyrrell Hatton’s six-shot victory at LIV Golf Nashville symbolized a breakthrough in more ways than one.

Not only did he win his maiden title on the Saudi-backed circuit, but he also won a professional golf tournament for the first time in more than three years. Hatton’s last victory came on the DP World Tour in January 2021, when he won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship by four strokes.

But it’s not as if the Englishman has sailed into the abyss since then. He has made the cut in 11 straight majors and posted seven top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour in 2023. He even tied for ninth at Augusta National a couple of months after joining LIV Golf.

Hatton has played solid golf over the past few years, which explains why he still ranks among the top 25 in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). But now he eyes another breakthrough: a major championship victory.

And with the Open Championship set to be held at Royal Troon next month, Hatton’s game suits that course on the Scottish coast perfectly. In fact, at the 2016 Open, when Royal Troon saw Henrik Stenson fend off Phil Mickelson in one of the greatest final rounds ever, a 24-year-old Hatton tied for fifth. Golf fans did not know much about Hatton then, but he did shoot four rounds of even par or better that week.

“I’ve done well on links courses in the past,” Hatton said after his final round 3-under 68 at Royal Troon in July 2016.

“I think my best performances are on links courses. So I’ve played a lot of links as an amateur, and I’ve just taken that sort of into the province.”

Interestingly, Hatton has not posted a better finish at The Open since then, although he did tie for sixth in 2019 at Royal Portrush. He tied for 20th a year ago at Royal Liverpool and finished in a tie for 11th at St. Andrews the year before.

But now the Englishman will return to Royal Troon as a player to keep an eye on, a much different circumstance than where he stood in 2016, when he arrived as the 68th ranked player in the OWGR. Golf fans know all about Hatton in 2024, not only for his fiery and passionate demeanor but also for his terrific ball-striking and nifty short game—attributes required for Open Championship success.

It seems as if Hatton is due for a major championship breakthrough. Even though we are still three weeks away from having serious discussions about who could win at Royal Troon, Hatton will have to be in that conversation, especially now that he has learned how to win again.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.

Travelers: Scottie Scheffler matches Arnold Palmer, grabs 6th win travelers,scottie,scheffler,matches,arnold,palmer,grabs,th,win,sbnation,com,front-page,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-news

On: June 24, 2024 By: admin

Scottie Scheffler won his sixth PGA Tour event of the season as he beat Tom Kim at the Travelers Championship. He becomes the first player since Arnold Palmer in 1962 to win six times on Tour before July 1st.

Scheffler also became the fourth player to record six or more wins in a season since 1983 and the first since Tiger Woods did it in 2009, per the PGA Tour communications team.

“It’s pretty special. It’s been a great season,” Scheffler said. “I’ve been fortunate to come away with some wins, and it’s been a lot of fun. Tom played his heart out today. He’s a great player, a great champion. It was fun battling him today.”

A bogey-free final round 5-under 64 got Scheffler to 22-under while Kim posted a 4-under 65. Scheffler came in looking to rebound off his uneventful performance at the U.S. Open.

Kim made a bogey on the par-3 8th, and it proved costly. The 22-year-old made a clutch putt on the 18th to birdie and tie Scheffler, sending the tournament into extra holes.

It only took one extra hole for Scheffler to seal the deal as he hit a perfect approach shot. Kim hit his second shot into the bunker and could not get it close enough to put the pressure on Scheffler.

The World No. 1 two-putted to defeat his friend.

Both players dealt with a weird incident as they wrapped up the 72nd hole.

A wild protest invasion on the 18th hole delayed things for the final group. Five “Extinction Rebellion” protestors disturbed the play as the final group approached the green. Police quickly arrested the individuals, but they still got white and red substances on the green.

Blowers and towels cleared off the powder for the players to finish the 72nd hole. However, after assessing the green, the agronomy team and officials ultimately decided to move the hole for the playoff.

Thankfully, the disrupters did not target the athletes but still found a way to damage the track.

“It was definitely a bit weird,” Scheffler said. “When something like that happens, you don’t know what’s happening, so it can rattle you.

“There’s people and police officers running around the green and you don’t know if they’re peaceful. You have no idea what’s going on, so it can be stressful. I felt like Tom and I tried to calm each other down so we could give it our best shot there on 18.”

This win also marked Scheffler’s fourth Signature Event win of the season. He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, The Memorial, and the Travelers Championship. Not to mention, Scheffler also took home the 2024 Masters and The Players titles.

The former Texas Longhorn earned $3.6 million for this victory, putting him at $27,696,858 in official money. There is still a lot of golf left to play this season as Scheffler continues to set the record for most money won in a single season.

Scheffler expressed that his next two events will be the Open Championship and the Olympics.

Can Scottie Scheffler win staggering 6th victory at the Travelers can,scottie,scheffler,win,staggering,th,victory,at,the,travelers,sbnation,com,golf,golf-pga-tour,golf-opinions,golf-news,liv-golf

On: June 23, 2024 By: admin

Welcome to Playing Through’s new morning ritual: Golf Talk Today.

Each morning will feature a Golf Talk Today, in which the crew will discuss various elements of the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and other professional golf tournaments.

The final round of the Travelers Championship is here, and to no one’s surprise, Scottie Scheffler is in contention. His best friend, Tom Kim, continues to hold the lead by one stroke, but will he be able to hold off the two-time Masters winner?

Sunday will look different. The PGA Tour moved up tee times for the final round and put the guys into threesomes. With bad weather lurking in the afternoon, the leaders will tee off at 11:15 a.m. ET.

Kim, Scheffler and Akshay Bhatia are in the last group of the day. Let’s discuss Championship Sunday.

Travelers Championship’s final round will be wild:

Saturday saw Cameron Young shoot a historical 59, but his play quickly got overshadowed by Scheffler, Kim, and Bhatia’s play.

He finished tied with Kim at 13-under, but by the end of Saturday’s round, he trailed by five shots.

The afternoon wave fought another weather delay, but that did not matter as the conditions were so soft.

While Kim played well the first three days, Scheffler and Bhatia also did well. They all shot 65 or better in the first three rounds.

Determining a winner on Sunday will likely come down to who can limit mistakes and sign for the most birdies.

Scheffler already has five victories in 2024. He won three Signature Events, the most recent being The Memorial, the 2024 Masters, and The Players.

Can he earn his fourth Signature Event win? Scheffler is so hard to beat right now, so it will be interesting to see if two young bucks like Kim and Bhatia can keep up.

Not to mention, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Sungjae Im and Tony Finau lurk in the groups ahead.

Scheffler did not play well at the U.S. Open, but his game returned to normal on Thursday. Regardless, Championship Sunday will be wild for the Travelers as records could get broken.

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KPMG Women’s PGA Championship: Nelly Korda among big LPGA names to stumble, miss cut