Players Championship Leaderboard 2026 Review of Top Day 3 Scorecards, Player Stats

Ludvig Aberg is 18 holes away from securing the biggest win of his career.

The 26-year-old Swede owns a three-shot advantage over Michael Thorbjornsen after three rounds at The Players Championship.

Aberg only shot a 71 on Saturday, but he did enough to consolidate his lead on a day in which incredibly low scores were hard to come by.

Thorbjornsen, Matt Fitzpatrick and Brian Harman all put themselves in the top five with rounds in the 60s.

Cameron Young sits in third with four shots to make up against Aberg. Fitzpatrick and Harman are among a six-way tie for fourth at eight-under.

Ludvig Aberg Extends Advantage

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Ludvig Aberg wasn't as hot on Saturday as he was in the second round, but he still was able to extend his advantage on top of the leaderboard.

Aberg shot a one-under 71 to move three shots ahead of the closest competition.

The highlight of Aberg's round was an eagle on the par-five 11th hole. He had one birdie, one bogey and 15 pars on the rest of his scorecard.

The Swede is ahead by three shots over Michael Thorbjornsen and four in front of Cameron Young.

Aberg just needs a consistent round of golf on Sunday, like the one he produced on Saturday, to close out his first title at TPC Sawgrass.

The one thing he has to hope for at the start of his Sunday round is to not carry over the negative momentum from the end of his round on Saturday. He bogeyed the 18th hole to drop back down to 13-under. That's the one thing that could prevent him from capturing the win.

Scottie Scheffler Rebounds After Rough Start

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Scottie Scheffler carded the third-lowest score on course on Saturday.

Scheffler moved up into a tie for 26th at four-under after his five-under 67.

The gap to Aberg is too big for Scheffler to make up in a single round, but Saturday's performance is a good sign for the world's top-ranked golfer as a whole.

Scheffler struggled to create any momentum with a 72 and 73 in the first two rounds. The 67 at least allows Scheffler to contend for a spot in the top 10 on Sunday.

Scheffler can take plenty of positives from his game from Saturday. He rolled in five birdies and did not give any shots back to the course.

Michael Thorbjornsen Produces Best Round of Chasing Pack

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Michael Thorbjornsen's 67 catapulted him up to second place behind Aberg.

The American shot a five-under round on a day in which most of the field failed to gain a significant amount of strokes.

Thorbjornsen reeled off three birdies in a row on the front nine, eagled the 11th hole and birdied the 16th and 17th holes to reach the second-place spot on the leaderboard.

He did give two shots back with bogeys on the 12th and 15th holes, but the birdies at the end of the round helped him get back within reach of Aberg.

Thorbjornsen produced a 65 and 67 on consecutive days. He'll need a score in that range again on Sunday to even have a chance of contending with Aberg.