PGA Tour veteran leads at Colonial, but now comes the hard part

No one had a better moving day at the Charles Schwab Challenge than Eric Cole. But now comes the hard part.

Cole, the 37-year-old PGA Tour veteran, shot a seven-under 63 on Saturday at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, to take a one-shot lead into Sunday’s final round. His 63 was two strokes better than the next-best round on Saturday (Nico Echavarria’s 65) and four better than a handful of others who shot 67.

This week is his 120th career start; he’s still looking for that elusive first victory.

“It’s not going to be an easy day tomorrow, I know that from my experience,” Cole said Saturday. “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.”

Cole started the day five off the lead but torched the classic country club well before the leaders teed off. He was four under on the front and added birdies on 10, 11 and 14 before his only bogey at 15. He bounced back with a birdie on 16 and parred the last two to take the clubhouse lead; a couple of hours later it was good for the 54-hole lead.

“Everything was kind of working well,” he said. “I got off to a really good start. I kind of knew going into it that it was going to be a harder course, firmer conditions. Getting off to that start and realizing how much harder the course was today was great. Then, yeah, just kept trying to hit good shots one after the next and make birdies when you can.”

Cole’s had runner-up and third-place finishes in his career (two of each) although all were in 2023. The closest he’s come to a victory was losing the 2023 Honda Classic in a playoff.

Cole sits at 12 under, one ahead of Ryan Gerard, who birdied the last two holes Saturday to shoot 68 and jump into solo second.

“That’s going to be big for tomorrow,” Gerard said of his finish. “Every shot really matters; any time you get a chance to capitalize on an opportunity you got to take advantage of it. And this course is going to play difficult, so you got to go out there with the right attitude and keep putting it in front of you and keep hitting it in the right spots.”

J.J. Spaun and Mac Meissner are tied at 10 under. Spaun, the 2025 U.S. Open champion, most recently won a month ago at the Valero Texas Open.

There’s also seven players tied at seven under, a group that includes Justin Thomas, Gary Woodland, Ludvig Aberg, Akshay Bhatia and Brian Harman.

“I think [Sunday] will play similar to today if there’s wind,” Cole said. “There’s no rain, so it’s not going to get any softer. So just be prepared for probably another difficult day that requires a lot of good quality shots.”