OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Robert MacIntyre ducked his head under the branches and climbed into a mess of bushes behind the fifth green without a golf club, first seeing if he could find his ball and then deciding if it was worth trying to play it.
Through an opening he saw Scottie Scheffler waiting on him, a reminder of what he was up against Saturday in the BMW Championship.
He took on the shot and somehow made par with two tough putts from 70 feet. It was a big moment. But to MacIntyre, all of them were big — the par saves, a few birdie chances he missed and the 40-foot birdie that ended a satisfying day.
The last birdie gave MacIntyre a 2-under 68 and a four-shot lead over the No. 1 player in the world going into the final round at Caves Valley.
Ludvig Åberg entered the mix. The Swedish star appears to be emerging from a summer slumber and shot 68 that left him alone in third. He was still six shots behind MacIntyre.
No one else was closer than eight shots of the lead.
Scheffler could sense the crowd in his favor, but didn’t notice anything out of control. He has been through this before, paired with MacIntyre in the Scottish Open and playing before a pro-Rory McIlroy gallery at Royal Portrush when he won the British Open.
Akshay Bhatia helped his chances with an amazing day that included a hole-in-one on the 17th hole to win a car, but more important project him inside the top 30. He also holed out with a wedge on the par-4 seventh for eagle, and turned in a card that had scores of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
Harry Hall of England, at No. 45 in the FedEx Cup, had a second straight 67 and was tied for fourth with Sam Burns (67).
Players often talk about staying present. Hall takes that to another level.
«I’ve only got one job to do, and that’s go recover and hydrate and get ready to hit that first show down the fairway tomorrow,» Hall said. «My game plan won’t fluctuate regardless of the situation I’m in. I think I’ll try and do the right thing on every shot, and hopefully that will be enough.»
Rickie Fowler, who narrowly got into the top 50 to reach Caves Valley, had a 67 to put himself in position to move into the top 30. He was projected just outside the top 30, and those projections are likely to fluctuate wildly on the last day.
Fowler has an idea what he needs, but he kept it simple.
«Hopefully, just go wear out some fairways and then get the iron play back to where it’s been and make some putts,» he said. «But it sounds a lot easier than it is.»
MacIntyre was clearly up for the test, though. He made five par putts from the 5- to 8-foot range, had a couple of birdie putts inside 6 feet and then ended his day with an uppercut celebration of a 40-foot birdie putt.
Information from ESPN Research and The Associated Press was used in this report.
