World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is following in the footsteps of golf legend Tiger Woods. While Scheffler's 20 career PGA Tour victories remain far from Woods' 82, he is matching the icon in certain statistical categories.
One such record is consecutive top-4 finishes. Scheffler tied for fourth at last week's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, extending his streak to eight consecutive top-4 finishes. Since The Open last July, Scheffler has recorded results of win, T3, win, T4, win, win, T3, and T4 across eight tournaments. This ties Woods' post-1983 PGA Tour record for most consecutive top-4 finishes.
In the third round of the Genesis Invitational (total purse $20 million) at Riviera Country Club (par 71) in Los Angeles, California, on Friday, Scheffler shot 5-under to move into a tie for 22nd at 5-under 208.
Scheffler has shown a pattern this year of struggling in opening rounds before climbing the leaderboard in subsequent rounds. At this tournament, he ranked T63 after the first round, improved to T42 after the second, and rose to T22 after the third. Though he trails solo fourth-place Aaron Rai of England (11-under) by six strokes, Scheffler's recent strong finishes make a top-4 result far from impossible.
Jacob Bridgeman holds the solo lead at 19-under 194 after shooting 7-under. Bridgeman's best career finish is a single runner-up result last year. He has recorded two top-10 finishes in four events this year.
World No. 2 Rory McIlroy sits six strokes back in second place at 13-under, eyeing a come-from-behind victory. Aldrich Potgieter of South Africa is third at 12-under. Kim Joo-hyung, who has three career PGA Tour wins, is tied for 22nd, while Kim Si-woo is tied for 32nd at 3-under.