The Players Championship 2024, Round Three: They call it ‘Moving Day’ for a reason

It was shaping up to be a very competitive weekend at The Players Championship 2024 and the third round lived up to the hype. Moving Day brought a little bit of everything to TPC Sawgrass and promises a fourth and deciding round not for the faint of heart.

Just when it looked like Wyndham Clark was on his way to a historic performance at The Players Championship after two consecutive rounds of 65, he sent two balls in the water on day three (one on the 12th and one on the 17th) and was unable to defend the four-shot lead he held after the first 36 holes.

Xander Schauffele took advantage of the former leader’s slip and shot his third consecutive round in the 60s (65 > 69 > 65) to climb to the top of the leaderboard. Schauffele went bogey-free on Moving Day and carded eight birdies to take a one-stroke lead.

The best third round of The Players Championship, however, was achieved by Brian Harman at 8-under. The 2023 Open Championship champion played quietly through the first two rounds to finish in a solid third place after 54 holes, just two shots off the lead. In the process, Harman set the second-round and third-round combined score record at The Players Championship (15-under 129).

Another player trying to make a splash without making too much noise is Sahith Theegala, who shot a 5-under in the third round of the The Players Championship to move up to T6 (12-under), tied with defending champion Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler, in particular, has once again shown his exceptional talent, as he has managed to shoot three rounds in the 60s despite playing with a complicated neck ailment.

The Players Championship: Round 3 Leaderboard

• Xander Schauffele -17
• 2 Wyndham Clark -16
• 3 Brian Harman -15
• T4 Maverick McNealy -13
• T5 Matt Fitzpatrick -13
• T5 Sahith Theegala -12
• T5 Scottie Scheffler -12
• 8 Nate Lashley -11
• T9 Taylor Montgomery -10
• T9 Hideki Matsuyama -10
• T9 J.T. Poston -10
• T12 Doug Ghim -9
• T12 Ludvig Åberg -9
• T12 Christiaan Bezuidenhout -9
• T12 Rory McIlroy -9
• T12 C.T. Pan -9
• T17 Sam Burns -8
• T17 Adam Schenk -8
• T17 Joel Dahmen -8
• T17 Austin Eckroat -8
• T17 Matt NeSmith -8
• T17 Sepp Straka -8
• T17 Matti Schmid -8
• T24 Peter Malnati -7
• T24 Si Woo Kim -7
• T24 Emiliano Grillo -7
• T24 Sam Ryder -7
• T24 Corey Conners -7
• T29 Nick Taylor -6
• T29 Brice Garnett -6
• T29 Tony Finau -6
• T29 Taylor Moore -6
• T29 Collin Morikawa -6
• T29 Jason Day -6
• T35 Aaron Rai -5
• T35 Jake Knapp -5
• T35 Sungjae Im -5
• T35 Tommy Fleetwood -5
• T35 Alex Noren -5
• T35 Chan Kim -5
• T35 Lee Hodges -5
• T35 Chris Kirk -5
• T35 Tom Hoge -5
• T44 David Lipsky -4
• T44 Sami Valimaki -4
• T44 Mackenzie Hughes -4
• T44 Dylan Wu -4
• T44 Kurt Kitayama -4
• T44 Cameron Young -4
• T44 Ryan Moore -4
• T51 Martin Laird -3
• T51 Zac Blair -3
• T51 J.J. Spaun -3
• T51 Adam Scott -3
• T51 Viktor Hovland -3
• T51 Jimmy Stanger -3
• T51 Denny McCarthy -3
• T51 Shane Lowry -3
• T51 Mark Hubbard -3
• T51 Harris English -3
• T61 Ben Martin -2
• T61 Tyler Duncan -2
• T61 Francesco Molinari -2
• T64 Andrew Putnam -1
• T64 Patrick Cantlay -1
• T66 Min Woo Lee E
• T66 Keith Mitchell E