Portugal Colonial - Scheffler, Lowry share 54-hole PGA lead at Bay Hill

Scheffler, the 2022 Masters champion, and Lowry, the 2019 British Open champion, each fired a two-under par 70 to stand on nine-under 207 after 54 holes at Bay Hill in Orlando.

Reigning US Open champion Wyndham Clark was third on 208 with fellow Americans Will Zalatoris and Russell Henley and Japan's Hideki Matsuyama next on 209.

Scheffler and Lowry were among six players who shared the 36-hole lead and they kept their patience during gusty conditions in roller-coaster rounds.

"I had a lot of patience around the course," Scheffler said. "It's a tough place to play, especially when you get winds like this. It's tough to make putts. It's tough to get the ball close to the hole.

"Proud of how I finished and did a good job of staying patient."

Lowry charged late, answering a bogey at the par-3 14th with birdie putts from three feet at the par-5 16th and 32 feet at the par-3 17th.

"Holed a nice one on 17 but I didn't feel that comfortable with it all day. It was hard out there," Lowry said.

"You're leaving those 25-footers for birdie, you're just trying to get it dead, because those 4-footers on those greens are quite difficult, especially when it's windy."

"When you play in windy conditions, the hardest part of it is putting. Certainly it was today. I felt like I hit a lot of good putts. I felt like I burned the edge a lot.

"At the end, it was just great to hole that one on 17. I was pretty happy with that... I'm very happy with my day's work."

Scheffler answered a bogey at the par-3 second with a birdie at the par-5 fourth but made bogey at the fifth and ninth after missing the greens on his approach.

After a 16-foot birdie putt at the 10th, Scheffler followed a bogey at 11 with birdies at the par-5 12th and par-4 13th, then sank a 15-foot birdie at 15, tapped in for birdie at the par-5 16th and closed with back-to-back pars.

"Always nice to see some putts go in," Scheffler said. "It was challenging out there with the gusting winds. I just did my best to try and hit good putts and stay patient and I feel like I did a good job of that."

Back-to-back bogeys to close the front nine dropped Lowry back but the Irishman birdied the 11th from 10 feet and the 12th from 14 feet then found putting form late to put himself in the final group, just as he was last Sunday when he settled for a share of fourth at the Cognizant Classic.

"These are the reasons you get up out of bed in the morning, to get out and compete against the best players in the world," Lowry said.

"I'm excited, I'm looking forward to it. I'm just going to go out and do my thing. Hopefully I can do a better job than I did last Sunday."

- Rory's fine back nine -

American Harris English was seventh on 210 while a pack on 211 included world number two Rory McIlroy, the four-time major winner from Northern Ireland firing a 68 that included a back-nine 30.

"I've got a lot of momentum coming off that back nine. I just need to get off to a better start. I haven't played that front nine very well this week," McIlroy said.

McIlroy became the first player to drive the 10th green at Bay Hill on his way to one of six back-nine birdies, including three in a row to end his round.

"That tee shot onto the green at 10 was pretty good," McIlroy said. "I had no clue that I could get it on the green. I just knew I could get it somewhere close. It was nice to play a good back nine and keep myself in it."

J.Oliveira--PC