Tour Championship: Scottie Scheffler’s lead cut, Rory McIlroy makes big charge as play halted by weather

After two days in which it appeared the Tour Championship would be a procession for Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1 was pegged back when play was suspended due to inclement weather during the third round on Saturday.

Scheffler failed to find any momentum during the early stages of his third round, and that gave hope to the chasing pack.

Schauffele got to within one shot of his playing partner after 12 holes, when play was called off due to a band of electrical activity in the area.

It was a mixed day for both Scheffler and Schauffele, as the latter birdied the second and third holes to draw level at the top of the leaderboard only to make two poor swings off the tee on four and five to give those shots back.

East Lake would feature high on Schauffele’s list of favourite tracks and he birdied six and seven to send a message to Scheffler.

Both the leaders made bogey on the 11th and that dragged the chasing pack firmly into the mix when play was halted.

Sungjae Im was four-under after 14 holes to get to 16-under and within three of Scheffler, while the eye is drawn to Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas.

McIlroy started the tournament with a triple bogey, but he dragged himself back into contention and with his driver in tune on Saturday, he stormed up the leaderboard.

Early birdies set the tone and an eagle on six set him on the move to five-under after 16 holes – and to 15-under with two to play.

US PGA champion Thomas looked out of sorts for a couple of days, but he made a big charge on Saturday and was left to ponder a birdie putt on the 18th when the horn went.

Thomas is at 14-under, the same score as Sepp Straka, Jon Rahm and Patrick Cantlay.

Sam Burns was way off the pace at five-under, but he produced one of the moments of the day with a slam-dunk eagle on 18 from a seemingly impossible position.