Scottie Scheffler will go into Sunday’s final round of THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson two shots behind Si Woo Kim after firing a 6-under 65 in the third round to sit at 19-under through 54 holes.
Si Woo Kim finished the third round at 21-under par and held a two-shot lead over Scheffler and Wyndham Clark, turning the weekend into a straight duel at TPC Craig Ranch. Scheffler’s 6-under 65 kept him squarely in the hunt for the title; he is the defending champion here and will play in the final pairing with Kim on Sunday.
The scale of what’s at stake was plain in the numbers: Kim 21-under, Scheffler 19-under after 54 holes, and a field averaging 68.6 strokes per round on the par-71 layout through three rounds. TPC Craig Ranch, which had been reshaped before the event, produced unusually low scoring on a rain-softened course with little wind — conditions that invited birdies and pressured every lead.
Kim’s day had its own rough edges. He bogeyed the 10th and 11th holes, a pair of miscues that produced one of the tournament’s sharper moments when he quoted his caddie afterward: "After that, my caddie told me, ‘You’re in a rush, so you’ve got to calm down,’" Kim said. He added, "This course is definitely not a 'protecting' course," underlining how quickly momentum can shift on the rain-softened greens.
TPC Craig Ranch’s redesign was supposed to push scores up. Course crews repositioned 74 bunkers, recreated three waste areas and reshaped all 18 greens to make the layout harder to score. Instead, wet conditions and nearly nonexistent wind — temperatures in the high 80s with just a 7 miles an hour breeze reported during the event — turned it into a scoring haven, a divergence that sits at the heart of the tournament’s tension.
That tension is not just architectural. Scheffler arrives with his own history at the course: he won here in 2025 with a record 31-under-par 253, and the expectation that a defending champion should control the final round runs up against the reality that Kim has been making birdies at a rate no one else on the PGA TOUR has matched this season. The lead, the weather and the reworked layout have combined to create a fragile leader and a poised chaser.
Scheffler kept the mood steady in his media remarks after the round. "I’m looking forward to the challenge," he said, and added a line that acknowledged both rivalry and rapport: "It’s always fun when I get to play with Si Woo." He also framed the moment locally: "I think it's good for the community to have two guys that are local up there on the leaderboard."
Still, the narrative of scottie scheffler byron nelson frustration has followed the defending champion into Sunday. His performance on Saturday answered some questions — a 6-under 65 is the sort of round that keeps a bid alive — but it did not erase the two-shot gap or the ways the course and weather have amplified scoring. Kim’s ability to steady himself after mid-round bogeys, and Scheffler’s capacity to turn a pressure final pairing into one more title defense, will decide the week.
The clearest immediate fact is simple: Kim leads at 21-under, Scheffler is second at 19-under after 54 holes, and they will tee off together in the final pairing on Sunday. If Scheffler’s calm after his round is genuine, he will press; if the course’s softness produces more birdie exchanges, the champion’s comfort with low scoring — and his memory of a 31-under win here — could tilt the outcome. For now, Scheffler’s words close the day: "I’m looking forward to the challenge."
