HOUSTON — Min Woo Lee chipped in for birdie to take the lead and then left Scottie Scheffler and everyone else in his wake Saturday with a 7-under 63, giving him a four-shot lead in the Texas Children's Houston Open as the Australian closes in on his first PGA Tour victory.
Scheffler began the third round with a one-shot lead and was stuck in neutral at Memorial Park, making birdie only on the par 5s and missing a few par putts in the 6-foot range to fall five shots behind with a 69.
Lee, the 26-year-old younger brother of LPGA major champion Minjee Lee, turned a bunched leaderboard into big separation around the turn, which included a tee shot on the par-3 ninth that was inches from going in for an ace, a 12-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole and an approach to 5 feet on the 12th.
He had eight consecutive one-putt greens, though some of those started just off the green allowing him to putt.
“Everything’s kind of clicking and I just feel really good about it,” Lee said.
Lee, who has three DP World Tour titles and one on the Asian Tour, was at 17-under 193. He was four shots ahead of Alejandro Tosti of Argentina, who had a 65. Tosti contended to the very end a year ago in the Houston Open and now gets another crack.
Scheffler was five shots behind along with Ryan Fox (65) and Ryan Gerard (68). Rory McIlroy was the first to tee off on No. 10 with the two-tee start, made a late eagle for a 66 and was eight shots behind.
Scheffler made his first bogey of the tournament on the fourth hole when he went over the green and pitched too strongly. Worse than bogey, he wasn’t making anything, even at the end of the round when he had a chance to at least close the gap.
He had a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 16th that stopped a turn away from dropping. On the reachable par-4 17th, he blasted out weakly from a front bunker and missed a 12-foot birdie chance, and his 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th never had a chance.
“I feel like yesterday I holed a bunch of putts,” said Scheffler, who was coming off a 62. “Today I feel like I couldn’t get the ball to go in the hole.”
Golf Channel Staff
