Sepp Straka is the solo leader heading into the final round at the 2025 Hero World Challenge after firing a third-round 64, going shot-for-shot with two-time defending Scottie Scheffler in the third round to take the solo lead at 17 under with 18 holes remaining.
Straka kept his card bogey-free on Saturday, playing steady golf all day and taking advantage of opportunities when they presented themselves with four birdies and two eagles — chipping in on the par-5 6th and rolling one in on the par-5 15th — to climb to the top leaderboard at Albany Golf Club.
It was the kind of performance that made Straka one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour last season. He’ll look to keep that going heading into Sunday.
“Yeah, I played pretty nice. Front nine, I felt like I didn’t really make any putts early on, but then the putter started feeling pretty nice around the turn,” Straka said. “Yeah, honestly, similar to yesterday. Iron play was really good; I just struggled with the driver a little bit. Hopefully clean that up for tomorrow.”
The driver wasn’t that loose as he found every fairway, but he was spot on in his assessment of his iron play, as he led the field hitting 16 of 18 greens in regulation during the third round. That combination meant he dealt with little in the way of stress as he made his way around Albany GC. While he didn’t produce the spectacular shot as often as his playing partner, it was the rare round where Scheffler wasn’t the player in a pairing making the fewest mistakes.
Straka will now take a one-shot lead into Sunday as he looks to cap off a career year on Tour with a third win after already claiming titles at the American Express and Truist. To do so, he’ll have to beat Scheffler head-to-head on back-to-back days.
Scheffler eyeing 3-peat
The world No. 1 had himself a terrific round Saturday, too, getting off to what he called a “dream start” with four birdies and an eagle across his first seven holes. He finished the day with eight birdies and an eagle, but he stumbled down the stretch with a pair of bogeys in his final three holes to shoot 65 and post 16 under, one stroke behind Straka.
It was a ball-striking exhibition from Scheffler for the first 15 holes, and it looked for a moment like he might run away and hide as he held a two-shot lead on the 15th tee. However, Scheffler walked off the 18th green extremely frustrated after a pair of bogeys, including a rare miss to the short side from the fairway at the last that he couldn’t get up and down from. Scheffler rifled his ball into the water after cleaning up for bogey and had some choice words for himself, but he is still in prime position to win Tiger Woods’ event for a third straight year.
Scheffler has been dialled in tee-to-green as per usual, but with a new driver in the bag this week, his performance on a course that can present some stress off the tee has been impressive. He seems to have quickly established trust with that club, finding the fairway on every hole. With his iron play and solid putting performance, he knows what he has to do on Sunday to pick up another trophy from Tiger.
“Just continue to execute,” Scheffler said. “Like I said, did a lot of good stuff today and more of that tomorrow, I think I’ll be in a good spot.”
Who else is in the hunt?
- Alex Noren (-14)
- Hideki Matsuyama (-14)
- Wyndham Clark (-13)
- J.J. Spaun (-13)
Straka and Scheffler will have a bit of a cushion going into Sunday, as the chase pack behind them starts at 14 under. While they tore up Albany GC on Saturday for the two low rounds of the week, the rest of the leaders couldn’t match their pace, and as a resul,t they will now need a special round on Sunday to threaten the final pairing.
Noren and Matsuyama will go out together in the penultimate group at 14 under, three behind Straka. They will have to shoot a 66 or so to play catch-up, given the worst round we’ve seen from Straka and Scheffler this week is a 69. Two U.S. Open champions will go off ahead of them at 13 under in the Spaun-Clark pairing, where one of those two will need to produce their lowest round of the week to threaten the leaders.
