Scottie Scheffler not crazy about an East Lake course that creates congestion on leaderboard

ATLANTA (AP) — Scottie Scheffler was signing for another bogey-free round when he was curious enough about the par-3 ninth hole at 270 yards. The numbers surprised him and validated his thinking about how hard it was to separate at East Lake for the Tour Championship.

The 87 players on that hole in three rounds had made two birdies and six bogeys. Do the math — he does have a degree from the McCombs School of Business at Texas — and that's 79 pars.

“That seems very high,” Scheffler said. “It’s almost like let’s just skip it at this point. If we’re all going to make par, what’s the point in playing the hole, to be fair?”

Viktor Hovland and Ryan Gerard got a little separation at the end — Hovland with six putts of 7 feet or longer on the last six holes for a 65 and a one-shot lead over Gerard, who was bogey-free in his round of 66 — but the talk all week has been how bunched the scoring has been.

Cameron Young opened with an even-par 70 on Thursday and was in last place. After 54 holes, Kristoffer Reitan and Alex Smalley shared the basement. They were at 3-under 207.

“I feel the old golf course — before it was redone — it used to spread the field more,” McIlroy said after a 63 left him five behind. “Where this golf course is wider, the penalties of missing aren’t maybe quite as high.”

McIlroy and Ludvig Aberg referenced the PGA Championship at Aronimink. For the longest time it was wide open — seven players shared the 18-hole lead, the most in 57 years at a major. Midway through the third round, 28 players were separated by two shots.

“It’s difficult to make a ton of birdies,” said Aberg, who managed seven of them after a double bogey at the start for a 65. “It gives me a little bit of sort of Aronimink vibes.”

Aaron Rai finally pulled away to win his first major by three shots at the PGA with a 40-foot eagle putt and a 70-foot birdie putt.

“This tournament feels a lot like Aronimink, where there’s a lot of people around the lead,” McIlroy said. “It feels like you can make some birdies, but it’s like a good score is 67 and a bad score is 71. There’s like not a lot of separation of the field.”

That's what got Scheffler's attention, perhaps because he is the supreme ball-striker in golf and felt handcuffed by the large greens with big slopes and pins that required caution. He caught a gust to a back pin on the 17th hole Friday and could get no closer than 12 feet.

“When you have really, really large green complexes like these and they tuck the pins very close to the edges, it’s a balancing act between how much you want to bite off,” Scheffler said.

“I love seeing rewards for good shots and punishments for bad,” he said. "I think sometimes, especially when you look at these modern golf courses, they do a lot of the same stuff to the golf courses. They make the fairways bigger. They make the greens bigger. Then in order to protect par, we shove the pins up against edges.

“That’s why I think you see the scores get really close like they are this week.”

The ninth hole was maxed out at 270 yards — back tee, back pin — and Scheffler hit 5-wood just short of the green. McIlroy hit 3-iron. Players feel the best par 3s are the short ones, but Scheffler didn't seem to mind how the ninth played for the third round.

“I actually thought it was better from the back box because you might see a few more bogeys,” Scheffler said.

Alas, no such luck Saturday — one birdie, one bogey, 27 pars.

See AP’s full golf coverage here

Scottie Scheffler hits from a bunker to the first green during the third round of the PGA Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug 29, 2026, in Atlanta.(AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Ryan Gerard putts on the first green as Viktor Hovland, of Norway, looks on during the third round of the PGA Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug 29, 2026, in Atlanta.(AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, waits to putt on the fifth green during the third round of the PGA Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug 29, 2026, in Atlanta.(AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Scottie Scheffler walks on the first green during the third round of the PGA Tour Championship golf tournament, Saturday, Aug 29, 2026, in Atlanta.(AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

NEW YORK (AP) — Interim New York Mets manager Andy Green was willing to get ejected Saturday if it meant slugger Juan Soto got a few extra seconds to recover from fouling a ball off his right shin in the slugger’s first game back from the injured list.

Green stayed in the game — and so did Soto, who delivered the go-ahead RBI single on the next pitch in the fifth inning of the last-place Mets’ 6-2 win over the Houston Astros.

“Going to give him all the time in the world he needed,” Green said with a grin. “I would have gotten ejected just to give him more time, if the umpire was saying to speed things up.”

After he was tended to by Green and a trainer, Soto hit a 100.4-mph line drive to right field off Cristian Javier to cap a seven-pitch battle and spark a three-run inning for the Mets, who halted a three-game skid.

“It was really frustrating at the time — everything went through my mind,” Soto said. “I just said (the heck with) it. I’m going to try to push through it. I’m not going to take too long here, I’ve got to be out there.”

Soto returned to the last-place Mets after missing 31 games with a strain of his left calf. The five-time All-Star landed on the injured list after battling the issue for about a week before he left a July 24 game against the Dodgers in discomfort.

“He said he was going to be back before the year was out and he was back before August was out,” Green said before the game.

The IL stint was the second this season for Soto, who was sidelined for 15 games with a right calf strain in April — his first trip to the IL since 2021, when he was with Washington.

“He’s worked incredibly hard over the last few weeks — a lot of it behind the scenes without people seeing it,” Green said. “He’s pushed himself in a way that, frankly, you don’t see a lot of veterans push themselves when your team is in this type of situation that we’re in.”

The Mets fell into the NL East cellar by going 3-12 during Soto’s first stint on the shelf, but were 17-14 in his recent absence despite a massive trade deadline selloff.

“It’s really frustrating to be down and not being able to help your team, to try to perform out there, try to have fun with the boys,” Soto said. “I think it’s really frustrating, That keeps me motivated to be out there again.”

As was the case in April, Soto returned without a rehab assignment.

“I was trying to stay locked in in my workouts and everything,” Soto said. “Even when I wasn’t pushing too hard on my legs, I was actually pushing really hard on my upper body and everything.”

Soto, who batted second and served as designated hitter Saturday, said he expects to see more time at designated hitter than in left field, at least initially.

“I feel pretty comfortable with my calf and all of that stuff,” Soto said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got to remember I came (back) a little bit shorter than they expected and I didn’t do any rehab assignment. So my guess is I’m probably going to DHing a little bit more and we will see when they decide to let me play in the outfield.”

With four outfielders — Soto and fellow veteran Luis Robert Jr. along with rookies Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing — Green said he could get the quartet into the lineup on a nearly daily basis.

Robert, who missed almost three months earlier this season with a back injury before beginning to play left field after the deadline, was off Saturday after appearing in the previous four games, when converted infielder Brett Baty played left,

Soto, in the second year of a 15-year, $765 million deal, is batting .283 with 21 homers and 53 RBIs in 85 games. His .941 OPS would lead the National League if he had enough plate appearances.

The Mets made room for Soto by optioning infielder Eric Wagaman to Triple-A following Friday night’s 3-1 loss to the Astros.

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

New York Mets' Juan Soto reacts after scoring during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)

New York Mets Juan Soto hits an RBI single against the Houston Astros during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)