Cal Golf: Collin Morikawa One Stroke Off the Lead at Charles Schwab Challenge

Collin Morikawa is where he wants to be — within striking distance of the biggest victory of his brief professional golf career.

The 23-year-old former Cal star had five birdies on the back nine Saturday to overcome a tough start and heads into Sunday’s final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge tied for second place, just one stroke behind leader Xander Schauffele.

Morikawa shot a 67 for the second consecutive day after opening play at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, with a 64 in Thursday’s first round.

Morikawa shares second place with Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Gary Woodland and Branden Grace, all at 12-under par with scores of 198.

Schauffele, who tied for second at the 2019 Masters, shot a 65 after assembling six birdies on Saturday and is at 13-under.

“It was kind of a scrappy day,” Morikawa told the Golf Channel. “The game feels good. The way I finished on that (back) nine, a lot of positives heading into tomorrow.”

Morikawa will be paired with Spieth on Sunday, going off at 9:50 a.m. PT. The final round will be televised live from noon to 3 p.m. PT.

The tournament is the first on the PGA tour since the coronavirus pandemic shut down sports in March. Among many changes implemented this weekend, there are no spectators at Colonial. As a result, players said, there has been no energy generated by crowd response.

“I think you'll feel it a little bit more tomorrow, for sure, but when you get into contention and have a chance to win a golf tournament, that adrenaline starts pumping,” Woodland said. “It's been a little different. The first two days, there wasn't too much adrenaline. There will be adrenaline going (on Sunday), which you have with fans or without fans.”

Morikawa opened the third round with a birdie, but had bogeys on the third and fourth holes. He made up for it on the back nine where he sandwiched birdies on the 10th, 11th, 13th, 16th and 17th holes around a bogey on the par-4 14th.

He missed a lengthy birdie putt on the 18th that could have pulled him into a share of the lead.

"Started off really well. Got some unlucky breaks on 3 and 4, but overall kind of brought it back on the back nine," Morikawa said. "Started hitting it close, started making some putts."

One year after turning pro, Morikawa is chasing his second tour victory. He claimed the Barracuda Championship in Reno last July, where his winner’s check was for $630,000.

The Charles Schwab Challenge is on a different level with a $7.5 million total prize purse, including $1.35 million set to go to the winner.

Spieth, owner of 11 PGA tour victories, had four birdies on the front nine and held the lead by himself for a while, but shot one-over on the the final nine holes and wound up with a 68. Thomas, ranked fourth in the world, played bogey-free golf in the third round, collecting four birdies for a 66.

Second-round leader Harold Varner III birdied the first hole Saturday when played one-over the rest of the day to finish at 70, and is tied for seventh place at 11 under.

Byeong-Hun An, another former Cal golfer, shot a 69 and is tied for 48th place at three-under.

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo

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