With fall around the corner, the final weekend of the 2026 PGA Tour season is upon us.
The third round of the Tour Championship tees off on Saturday, Aug. 29 with 29 golfers competing at East Lake Golf
Club in Atlanta in the third and final event of the FedEx Cup.
Ryan Gerard and Viktor Hovland sit at the top of the leaderboard with a score of 10-under.
But Cameron Young was the star of Friday's second round, going from worst to first. Once the day ended, his 8-under score was tied for fifth with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. Not bad company.
Scheffler himself has bookended his season with a win at The American Express and at the St. Jude Championship. He is hoping to win his second FedEx Cup after capturing it in 2024.
Robert MacIntyre's rocky FedEx Cup journey continues after withdrawing from the St. Jude Championship. He finds himself in last place as the only golfer with a score over par (+3).
The winner will be crowned after the final round on Sunday, Aug. 30.
Here are the top storylines to follow for Saturday's Tour Championship action:
How will Ryan Gerard hold up?
Can Gerard hold off Scheffler and all the big names behind him on the leaderboard? His score of 10-under currently sits tied at No. 1 with Hovland. In the second round, he was not fazed by a bogey at the first hole and ended up with six birdies, including one on the final hole.
Gerard, 27, has three runner-up finishes this season: the Sony Open, The American Express and the Memorial Tournament, where he lost in a playoff to J.T. Poston.
Will Scottie Scheffler lock up Player of the Year honors?
If he wins the Tour Championship, Scheffler will likely get his fourth straight Player of the Year title. His closest contender is Wyndham Clark, who isn't playing that well this week and sits tied for 20th with a score of 4-under.
Scheffler has bookended his season with a win at The American Express and at the St. Jude Championship. He's had 12 top-10 finishes this season, including finishing second at the Masters. He is hoping for his second FedEx Cup win.
No matter where he finishes in Atlanta, his 4,986 FedEx Cup points are more than 1,000 ahead of Matt Fitzpatrick. It's hard to think of who else has competed as well as Scheffler has this season.
Will Cameron Young keep shining?
Young was one of the top storylines on Friday after going from worst to first. He had seven birdies and wowed with an eagle on the final hole. At the end of the day, his 8-under score was good enough to be tied for fifth with Scheffler.
Young tied a course record when he shot a 9-under 61 at the Rocket Classic in July and he shot an 11-under 59 at the Travelers Championship in 2024. He won The Players Championship and Cadillac Championship earlier this season.
Two strokes away from the lead, will the 29-year-old be able to carry his Friday momentum into the weekend?
How will Rory McIlroy fare?
McIlroy sits tied at 23rd with a score of 3-under and it's looking like he will cap off a roller coaster of a season on a low. He's had five bogeys through two rounds and a double bogey in Friday's action.
The golfer, who hails from Northern Ireland, won the Masters this year for back-to-back titles. It was his only win of the season and he's been up and down since. Even in the FedEx Cup, he finished 66th at the St. Jude Championship then rebounded with a third-place finish at the BMW Championship.
Perhaps the emotion of this season was best exemplified at the Genesis Scottish Open in July. After a particularly bad approach shot, he yelled, "Ooooooh my God! I am sooo bad at golf!"
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Can Scottie Scheffler climb Tour Championship leaderboard? Round 3 storylines
