Eric Cole gets a shot at his 1st PGA Tour win after 63 in 3rd round at Colonial

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Eric Cole put himself in position for a shot at his first PGA Tour victory, starting fast and finishing with a season-best round for his first 54-hole lead.

Cole birdied four of his first eight holes on way to a 7-under 63 on Saturday in third round at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial. His only bogey was sandwiched by birdies on the back nine.

By matching the best round of the tournament, Cole got to 12-under 198 and one stroke ahead of Ryan Gerard, who finished his round of 68 with back-to-back birdies. Mac Meissner (67) and reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun (68) were two strokes back. Spaun birdied with a blast out of a greenside bunker at the 428-yard 15th hole after bogeys on two of his previous three holes.

Hogan’s Alley firmed up in the heat of a 90-degree day after rain earlier in the week, and it is expected to be even warmer Sunday. The scoring average for the third round was 71.2, after being under par each of the first two days.

“I kind of knew going into it that it was going to be a harder course, firmer conditions,” Cole said. “Getting off to that start and realizing how much harder the course was today was great.”

PGA Tour rookie Jordan Smith, who entered the day leading at 10 under with a one-stroke lead, had four bogeys without a birdie in a round of 4-over 74 to drop to a tie for 19th place. He had three consecutive bogeys at Nos. 5 through 7 after only one bogey in his first 40 holes before that.

This is the 120th PGA start for the 37-year-old Cole, whose parents were both former professional players. His mother, Laura Baugh, was the LPGA’s rookie of the year in 1973 and had 70 top-10 finishes over a 25-year LPGA career. Bobby Cole, from South Africa, won once on the PGA Tour.

Cole, who will be going for a win on his mother’s 71st birthday Sunday, last played in the final group in the final round at the 2025 Sony Open, when he finished fifth. His PGA Tour debut was in 2021.

“It’s not going to be an easy day tomorrow. I know that from my experience,” Cole said. “I know that it’s going to be difficult, but that’s why I practice really hard and that’s why I try and do everything the way I do so that I could be as prepared for whatever tomorrow brings.”

His chip-in from 27 feet off edge of the green at the 196-yard par-3 16th came after the bogey at the par-4 15th. He birdied the 439-yard 14th hole after an approach shot inside 5 feet.

Cole went into Saturday tied for 25th and five strokes off the lead.

Gerard had three bogeys and three birdies until his impressive finish. After a tap-in birdie at the 399-yard 17th, he hit his approach to 6 feet at the 424-yard closing hole while playing in the final threesome of the day.

“Felt like I was just kind of grinding it out pretty hard all day. Felt really confident with how I’ve been playing, I just didn’t feel like I was hitting it as close as yesterday and wasn’t leaving my ball in the greatest spots,” Gerard said. “So it’s one of those, every shot really matters, any time you get a chance to capitalize on an opportunity you’ve got to take advantage of it.

Meissner, 27, who lives in Dallas and played at SMU, had five birdies through 11 holes. He missed an opportunity to go lower with two bogeys on the back nine.

“There was a lot of positives. I like how I drove it on the front nine, I gave myself a lot of opportunities, a lot of birdie opportunities,” Meissner said. “The goal tomorrow for sure will just be to try and get the ball in the fairway a little bit more. It’s difficult out here.”

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J.J. Spaun watches his tee shot on the ninth hole during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Ryan Gerard lines up a putt on the ninth hole during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Joel Dahmen, right, reaches into his bag with caddie Jon Reehoorn on the 18th green after play was suspended due to weather during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, May 28, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities ordered inspections of all private schools in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after a school roof collapsed and killed 34 children and a teacher, as some victims’ relatives said the structure previously was reported to be weak.

The provincial government announced an investigation into the cause of Thursday’s collapse at Al-Khair school as victims’ families demanded justice. At least one family member said he had warned the school owner about leaks.

Police on Thursday arrested the school’s owner, Mohammad Khan. Peshawar Police Chief Saeed Ahmed said the building was structurally weak and Khan told officers that recent rains had weakened one of the roofs.

The government order, which was seen by The Associated Press, directs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s education department to establish district committees to inspect private school buildings throughout the province and submit findings and recommendations within three days.

The inspections must cover premises that are owned as well as those that are rented. Specific areas to checks in the buildings include roofs, ceilings, walls, columns, beams, foundations and staircases. Districts must require urgent technical assessment and classify school buildings as safe, in need of repairs or improvements, or potentially unsafe, the order says.

Emergency crews arrived within five minutes of being alerted and everyone trapped beneath the rubble was recovered by the time the operation ended Thursday. Rescuers pulled at least 40 children alive from the debris, said Bilal Faizi, a spokesperson for emergency services in Peshawar.

The collapsed roof was a traditional structure made of mud and bricks and some of the children trapped beneath died of suffocation, Faizi said.

Speaking from a hospital bed, injured teacher Mahwish Zaman said the collapse happened so suddenly that no one had time to escape.

Zaman described being in her classroom when she heard a loud crash from the floor above. Before she could warn her students to run to safety, the ceiling fell in. She was unconscious when she was taken to the hospital and later learned many of her students had died.

Residents visited victims’ families, many of whom lived in Peshawar’s Dir Colony neighborhood, where the school is located.

Mohammad Zaman, whose two nephews died in the collapse, said he and other relatives had complained to the school's owner about rainwater repeatedly seeping into classrooms. Zaman said he warned that the building’s condition could lead to a tragedy.

Zaman, 36, said through tears that his nephew Abdul, 9, was in second grade, while Abuzar, 10, was in third grade. Abuzar’s sister, Samiya, a nursery student at the school, survived because she had gone outside to buy sweets.

Zakir Ullah lost both sons, Abu Bakr and Mohammad, who were in the same classroom. His daughter was in a different class and ran home after the collapse to tell the family the school had fallen. They rushed back with her and found the boys’ classroom buried under rubble, he said.

Nothing was visible beneath the debris, said Ullah, who described the building as weak and demanded punishment for any officials who authorized its use as a school.

“How could I have known this would take both my sons away from me,” he said.

Ahmed reported from Islamabad.

Mourners attend funeral prayers of children, who were died in a roof collapse of a private school, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Zubair)

Rescue workers take a break while searching through the rubble at the site of a roof collapse at a private school, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Zubair)

A Pakistani shows the picture of his relative boy, who was died in a roof collapse of a private school, prior to a funeral prayer, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Zubair)

A rescue worker stand beside shoes and a school bag of victim children at the the site of a roof collapse of a private school, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Pakistan, Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Muhammad Zubair)