Schnek, Hall tied for Colonial lead after three rounds

Hall, who had the solo lead after the first and second rounds, overcame consecutive double-bogeys on the front nine that had dropped him out of the lead. His final putt in his round of 72 was a 10-foot par at No. 18 after he chipped from the fringe out of an awkward stance that had his heels hanging over the lip of a bunker, after a birdie at the 17th.

Harris English was a stroke back at 9-under 201 after his bogey on 18, when an 8-foot par chance curled just by the cup. That was two holes after he had sole possession of the lead with a 40-foot birdie on the par-3 16th.

The 31-year-old Schenk, without a win in his 170 previous PGA Tour events, was the runner-up at the Valspar Championship in mid-March. He since has missed four cuts and tied for 31st at the RBC Heritage.

Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world and the Colonial runner-up last year, bogeyed three of his last five holes for a 72 after opening with consecutive 67s. He was among six players tied for 10th place at 4 under.

Defending champion Sam Burns, who overcame a seven-stroke deficit in the final round last year and beat Scheffler on the first playoff hole, had his second consecutive 70. He is tied for 16th at 3 under, again seven strokes off the lead after three rounds.

It is the first time since 2014 that it is a shared lead going into the final round at Colonial. There was a four-way tie after 54 holes that year, though eventual winner Adam Scott wasn’t part of that quartet.

Colonial hasn’t had a wire-to-wire winner since Ian Baker-Finch in 1989. The only player to win in back-to-back years was Ben Hogan, who did it twice — 1946 and 1947, the event’s first two years, and again in 1952-53.

English, playing in the final group with Hall, was in the lead after his long birdie at 16th, but was in the rough on his first two shots at 17 before a 7-foot par — when Hall got even with his 10-foot birdie.

Emiliano Grillo, who started the day with an 20-foot eagle putt on the first hole and then a birdie at No. 2, shared the lead through the middle of the round. But those were his only under-par holes. He had a double-bogey and two bogeys over his last six holes in a round of 72 that left him at 6 under and tied for fourth place with Justin Suh (66).

Hall’s double-bogeys came at Nos. 6 and 7, after 14 birdies and only two bogeys in his 41 holes before that.

After his tee shot at the 401-yard sixth hole went into the right rough, Hall’s approach settled behind a temporary concession stand. After several minutes with a rules official, a couple of drops on a cart and a couple of more on a washed-out area of turf, his pitch through a small gap came up short in the rough of the mounded green.

That double-bogey took him to 10 under, at the same time Grillo missed a 6-foot par putt a hole ahead to drop to the same score — and a share of the lead, instead of having it outright.

Hall’s approach at the 420-yard seventh flew out of bounds to the right off the green.

English made an 8-foot birdie at No. 7 to move a stroke ahead of Hall and one behind Grillo after starting the day three strokes off the lead.

When English made the turn with an 8-foot birdie at the 404-yard 10th hole, he matched Grillo for the lead at 10 under.

Grillo’s tee shot at the 158-yard par-3 13th went into the water, and he ended up with a double-bogey to go to 8 under.

At the same time, a hole back, Hall had a birdie and English a bogey after his approach that went through the green. That put both of them at 9 under, in a tie with Schenk for the lead.

Before Hall’s 12-foot birdie at No. 12, he had a scrambling par on the 626-yard 11th hole. He was in the rough after each of his first two shots on the course’s longest hole, by 80 yards.