Ryan Gerard closes with back-to-back birdies to join Eric Cole in final group at Charles Schwab Challenge

FORT WORTH, Texas — The wind was up. The heat was up. And throughout Saturday at the Charles Schwab Challenge, the scores were up for most of the 75 players in the field.

Eric Cole was the big exception, claiming his first 54-hole lead ever. He shot 7-under 63 on a baking Colonial Country Club, a round that included eight birdies and a bogey—average third-round score: 71.2.

That’s about two strokes higher than the average scores on Thursday and Friday, when the course remained still damp from rains earlier in the week, with barely a whisper of wind. Colonial felt drier Saturday, the contenders said, which makes its angled, slithering fairways even more difficult to find.

Cole ranked 44th in driving accuracy Saturday — seven of 14 fairways found — but his iron play and putting helped him to a one-shot lead after 54 holes.

Ryan Gerard birdied the last two holes, shot 2-under 68 and finished a shot behind Cole.

Mac Meissner (3-under 67) and J.J. Spaun (2-under 68) will chase, behind by two.

Cole shot the best round of his season with a combination of grit, patience and the closest proximity to the hole by far.

“Everything was kind of working well,” the 37-year-old from Florida, winless in 119 starts, said after a muggy, sunny afternoon in North Texas. “It’s not going to be an easy day tomorrow. I know that from my experience. 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.”

Sunday should bring more sun and more wind, according to forecasts. It will also be hotter, with an expected high of 95.

That means firmer fairways, faster greens and plenty more informed speculation about how a short-iron shot might behave from the tangly Bermudagrass rough. It also means even tougher circumstances for Cole and Meissner, another winless player (68 starts) on the PGA TOUR.

Meissner, 27, played college golf at Southern Methodist University, about 45 minutes east from Colonial. He visited Colonial a few times, he said, and tied for 28th there in 2025, his first start in the venerable tournament on the Trinity River. Meissner apparently like the area. He and his wife Kennedy, who also played golf at SMU, are building a house a short walk from Colonial. It’s expected to be ready by U.S. Open week.

“I love being here,” Meissner said. “I love the challenge it presents.”

The final group — Cole, Meissner and Gerard — accounts for precisely one TOUR victory (Gerard won the Barracuda Championship last year). Behind them is Spaun, a two-time winner and the reigning U.S. Open champion. Alex Smalley, Hideki Matsuyama and Russell Henley will chase at minus-9.

“I’ve got good vibes in Texas,” said Spaun, a two-time winner of the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.

Those vibes come from knowing how to play well in a hot wind on a bouncy course drenched in a relentless sun. The contenders agreed that precision off the tee will be crucial. Ancient pecans line the fairways of Colonial, where even a yard or two on the wrong line can mean a recovery shot with a wedge simply for position.

Gerard had to accept that a few times Saturday. He missed seven fairways. Playing late, he was one of the players who got the brunt of the feisty winds.

He made an ungainly bogey on the par-5 first hole. A lob wedge bounced through the green on the easiest hole on the course. He bounced back with birdies on the third and fourth holes — two of the hardest at Colonial, part of the so-called Horrible Horseshoe along with the treacherous No. 5.

Gerard birdied 12. He bogeyed 14. He was even par at that point — not a bad round, but not a good one for someone contending.

He birdied the 17th and 18th with clutch approach shots and dead-eye putts.

“I'm excited about the finish, but it's an expectation to finish rounds strong and kind of run through that finish line,” Gerard said. “You don't ever want to be just limping across.”

He and the others are up for the challenge.

“I'll pat myself on the back here,” Gerard said, “and then go back to work and get ready for tomorrow.”