Jon Rahm had waded into the gallery right of the 11th fairway; Adam Hadwin assessed his lie in the rough; and a rowdy fan kept hollering facetiously about how much he liked Scottie Scheffler’s green shirt.

In a tan shirt that matched the TPC Scottsdale hardpan – he was the only one in his group not wearing green on the tournament’s “green out” day – Scheffler kept his ball in the fairway, his mind on the task, and his cool amid the chaos. The defending WM Phoenix Open champion shot a third-round 68, has a two-shot lead over Rahm (68) and Nick Taylor (67), and would be the first to successfully defend here since Hideki Matsuyama in 2017.

“I just kind of grinded,” said Scheffler, whose victory here a year ago touched off a run of four wins in six starts, a performance that ultimately saw him voted PGA TOUR Player of the Year. “I didn’t hit as many fairways as I wanted to.”

After hitting 10 of 14 fairways in each of the first two rounds, Scheffler found the short grass only five times in the third and hurried off to the driving range before darkness fell. But he was crafty and resilient with the rest of his clubs. After missing a birdie putt from inside 4 feet at the par-5 third hole, he birdied the par-3 fourth from 15 feet.

Rahm, who was an All-American for Arizona State and lives in Scottsdale, was occasionally wild off the tee, as well, hitting just six fairways Saturday. He, too, scrambled nicely, and can reasonably expect to be the people’s choice Sunday. He has finished T16 or better in all seven previous starts here. Is he destined to finally win?

“I have had good finishes, but I’ve never gone down the stretch into the back nine with a chance to win,” said Rahm, whose curling, left-to-right birdie putt at the par-3 16th hole set off a wild celebration. “For the most part I’ve actually played a really good back nine to put myself in that top 10. My best finish doing exactly that was when I was an amateur.

“So hopefully tomorrow I can get off a better start,” he added, “play a good front nine and go in that back nine with a solid chance of getting it done.”