FORT WORTH, Texas (WDRB) — Matti Schmid came to the University of Louisville from Germany and rewrote part of the program's record book. Now, he’s trying to make history on the PGA Tour.
The 27-year-old former Cardinal fired a 2-under-par 68 on Saturday at Colonial Country Club, grabbing a share of the lead heading into Sunday’s final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge. He’s tied at 13-under with Ben Griffin, as Schmid chases his first PGA Tour victory.
“I got off to a really good start,” Schmid said. “After three holes I hung onto that pretty good, I would say.”
Schmid birdied each of his first three holes in the third round, then held steady under gusty conditions. The wind caused issues off the tee, especially for Schmid, who typically plays a fade.
“A lot of tee shots were with hard left-to-right wind,” he said. “It’s kind of tricky to hit these fairways then because they’re so firm, but [I] hung on there pretty good.”
Schmid played at Louisville from 2017 to 2021. He posted the second-best single-season stroke average in school history (69.91 in 2019-20). Schmid also won the Old Town Club Collegiate, and ranked 19th in the PGA Tour University rankings as a senior.
As an amateur, Schmid won back-to-back European Amateur titles and earned the Silver Medal as low amateur at The Open Championship in 2021.
A win Sunday would make him just the fifth German-born player ever to win on the PGA Tour.
Schmid’s putter has been a key weapon this week.
“It’s so far the best putting tournament of my career,” Schmid said. “Hopefully I’ll have one more good round then tomorrow.”
Schmid said he’s trying to rely on past experiences, including close calls on the DP World Tour and solid final rounds earlier this season.
“Hopefully I can just put one more up there tomorrow, and hopefully that’s enough,” he said.
The course at Colonial is firming up, and with persistent crosswinds expected again on Sunday, Schmid said accuracy off the tee will be the biggest challenge.
“If the wind direction stays like that, we have a lot of crosswinds from left to right,” he said. “That makes it really difficult to hold the fairways for me with the cut. Somehow I’ll try to find fairways tomorrow, and then you can attack this golf course.”
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler made a charge Saturday with a 64 to get to 7-under, six shots back. Rickie Fowler is next closest to the leaders at 9-under.
But heading into Sunday, it’s the former Louisville Cardinal with a real chance to raise a trophy.
Sports Coverage:
BOZICH | Hoosier vs. Hoosier -- for trip to the NBA Finals
Kentucky basketball lands 4-star high school forward Braydon Hawthorne
Before joining Louisville, heralded freshman Mikel Brown hoping to represent Team USA
Copyright 2025 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
