Scottie Scheffler closes in on $25 million FedEx Cup prize with late burst of birdies

ATLANTA (AP) — Scottie Scheffler birdied four of his last five holes Saturday at East Lake for a 5-under 66 that kept Collin Morikawa at bay and moved the No. 1 player in golf one round away from capping his season with a $25 million FedEx Cup prize.

Scheffler extended his lead to five shots over Morikawa going into the final round of the Tour Championship, and no one else was closer than nine shots.

Sahith Theegala might have been two shots closer except for calling a two-shot penalty on himself on the third hole for lightly touching the sand with his club out of a bunker. Video was not entirely clear, but Theegala informed officials and his par turned into a double bogey.

“Pretty sure I breached the rules, so I’m paying the price for it, and I feel good about it,” Theegala said. “I’m not 100% sure. But I’d say I’m 98, 99% sure that some sand was moved.”

He responded with seven birdies on the back nine and shot 66, leaving him nine shots behind.

Morikawa, who started the tournament six shots behind Scheffler as the No. 7 seed, got within two shots of the lead when he holed a birdie putt from just inside 10 feet on the par-5 sixth hole.

But that was as close as he got. On the next hole, Scheffler holed a 15-foot birdie putt while Morikawa came up short of the green, lagged a putt to just outside 3 feet and missed it, a two-shot swing that restored Scheffler's lead to four.

Morikawa three-putted for par from 60 feet on the par-5 15th, and then birdied three of his last four holes for a 67. He wound up losing a little more ground to Scheffler.

“Not exactly the moving day that I needed, but I knew this entire week I was going to need something special to come out on top and I’m going to need something very special,” Morikawa said. “But I believe in myself, and hopefully that comes out tomorrow.”

Scheffler was at 26-under par. The five-shot lead is not the largest since this format began in 2019. Scheffler had a six-shot lead two years ago, closed with a 73 and finished one shot behind a hard-charging Rory McIlroy.

A year ago, he started as the No. 1 seed and had only one round under par.

“I feel like I’ve done a lot of stuff well and played solid, so I’m looking forward to the challenge of trying to finish off the tournament tomorrow,” he said.

British Open and PGA champion Xander Schauffele never got on track. Starting the day five shots behind, he had two bogeys in the opening four holes and failed to birdie the three par 5s in his round of 71. He was 10 shots behind.

He has never hit more than seven fairways each of the three rounds, and it has cost him at a time when he needed to go low to stay in the game.

“I was just not playing well enough to shoot consecutive 7-under pars,” Schauffele said. “You’ve got to be hitting at least 12 fairways to give yourself some serious looks and then obviously do a lot of good after that, but it starts with your ball on the short stuff.”

For everyone else, it's a race for cash.

The FedEx Cup winner gets $25 million, with second place worth $12.5 million and third place paying $7.5 million.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Xander Schauffele checks the wind from the fairway on the seventh hole during the third round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Xander Schauffele hits his second shot from the fairway on the seventh hole during the third round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Sahith Theegala hits his second shot from the fairway on the seventh hole during the third round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Collin Morikawa hits his second shot from the fairway on the seventh hole during the third round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Collin Morikawa waves to the crowd after making his putt on eight during the third round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Scottie Scheffler, right, and his caddie walk to his drive on the fairway of the seventh hole during the third round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Scottie Scheffler hits his drive from the eighth tee during the third round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

Scottie Scheffler prepares to putt on the seventh hole during the third round of the Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jason Allen)

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen were arrested Saturday after Venezuelan officials accused them of coming to the South American country to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.

The arrests were announced on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the nation's powerful interior minister. Cabello said the foreign citizens were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. In the television program, Cabello showed images of rifles that he said were confiscated from some of the plotters of the alleged plan.

The arrest of the American citizens included a member of the Navy, who Cabello identified as Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gomez. Cabello said that Gomez was a former navy seal who had served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia. Spain's embassy in Venezuela did not reply to a request for comment on the arrests of its citizens.

The U.S. State Department late Saturday confirmed the detention of a U.S. military member and said it was aware of “unconfirmed reports of two additional U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela.”

“Any claims of U.S. involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false. The United States continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela,” the statement said.

The announcement of the arrests comes just two days after the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on 16 allies of Maduro who were accused by the U.S. government of obstructing voting during the disputed July 28 Venezuelan presidential election, and carrying out human rights abuses.

Earlier this week, Spain's parliament recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of the election, angering Maduro allies who called on the Venezuelan government to suspend commercial and diplomatic relations with Spain.

Tensions between Venezuela's government and the U.S. have increased as well following the election, whose result sparked protests within Venezuela in which hundreds of opposition activists were arrested.

Venezuela's Electoral Council, which is closely aligned with the Maduro administration, said Maduro won the election with 52% of the vote, but did not provide a detailed breakdown of the results.

Opposition activists, however, surprised the government by collecting tally sheets from 80% of the nation's voting machines. The tally sheets collected by the opposition were published online, and they indicate that Gonzalez won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.

Despite international condemnation over the election's lack of transparency, Venezuela's supreme court, which has long backed Maduro, confirmed his victory in August. Venezuela's attorney general then filed conspiracy charges against Gonzalez, who fled to Spain last week after it became clear he would be arrested.

Maduro has dismissed requests from several countries, including the leftist governments of Colombia and Brazil, to provide tally sheets that prove he won the election. Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has long claimed the U.S. is trying to overthrow him through sanctions and covert operations.

The Maduro administration has previously used Americans imprisoned in Venezuela to gain concessions from the U.S. government. In a deal conducted last year with the Biden administration, Maduro released 10 Americans and a fugitive wanted by the U.S. government to secure a presidential pardon for Alex Saab, a close Maduro ally who was held in Florida on money laundering charges. According to U.S. prosecutors, Saab had also helped Maduro to avoid U.S. Treasury sanctions through a complex network of shell companies.

FILE - Socialist Party President Diosdado Cabello gives his weekly press conference, in Catia La Mar, La Guaira, Venezuela, Aug. 19, 2019. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)

FILE - Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro addresses government loyalists gathered at the presidential palace in support of his reelection one month after the presidential vote, in Caracas, Venezuela, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, File)