NAPA, Calif. — It wasn't a question of "if" Scottie Scheffler would contend at the Procore Championship. Rather, the golf world patiently waited for the inevitable "when."

After a sluggish first-round 70 at Silverado Resort, which ended Scheffler's streak of 21 straight rounds in the 60s, the world No. 1 picked up momentum with a second-round 68. At a 6-under total after 36 holes, Scheffler trailed second-round leader Ben Griffin by eight shots.

On a warm, clear Saturday afternoon in California wine country, Scheffler kicked it into gear.

"I mean if I go out and play good consistent golf, I'm going to start moving my way up the leaderboard and that was the goal going into today," said Scheffler, who made the turn in 5-under 30.

Calm and focused as ever, he'd brought the deficit down to three at the turn, and when he walked off the course with a third-round 64, he was in third place at 14-under, two shots behind leader Griffin.

"Hit a lot of greens, holed some putts," Scheffler added. "On afternoon Poa, the ball has a tendency to move around ... But did a good job of holing some nice putts today."

Despite missing seven of 14 fairways, Scheffler was first in Strokes Gained: Approach to Green and first in SG: Total.

"It's quite challenging to hit fairways when they get this firm out here," he said. "I was in the first cut a few times today, but overall did a good job of getting the ball in play and (giving) myself some looks."

He started his Moving Day campaign with three straight birdies on Nos. 3-5, which included a 21-foot putt on the par-3 fourth hole. He saved par from No. 7's greenside bunker with an 8-foot putt, then repeated his hat trick with birdies on Nos. 9-11. He added another birdie at No. 13 after an approach to 5 feet.

Scheffler's only blemish came at the par-4 14th hole, when he sent a wayward drive into the right rough, then chunked his 90-yard approach shot short of the green. His chip shot was uncharacteristically short of the green and curled into the greenside bunker, where he blasted out of an "awful lie" and two-putted for double bogey.

"The wind kind of switched on me there, ended up in the rough and I had a very poor lie in the rough and did my best getting to the front of the green," Scheffler said of his approach shot. "I just got a little bit greedy on the chip. ... I was trying to flop it with some spin, and it kind of rode the face a little bit."

But what else would the world's best at the “Bounce Back" (the percentage of time a golfer makes a birdie or better immediately after a bogey or worse) do on the following hole? Birdie, of course. He converted two more short putts for closing birdies on Nos. 17-18.

Scheffler is looking to add a seventh TOUR win to a trophy collection this year that has included major championship victories at the PGA Championship and The Open Championship. This would also be his third win in five starts. The player he's chasing, Griffin, just happens to be a fellow teammate on the U.S. Ryder Cup Team, which will take center stage from Sept. 26-28 at Bethpage Black in Long Island, New York.

"Definitely glad to see another teammate up on top of the leaderboard," Scheffler said. "We love going into the Ryder Cup seeing guys play well, and Ben's had a great year, so it's nice to see him continue that trend this week."

They may be teammates in less than two weeks, but tomorrow, expect Scheffler to be nothing less than lethal in his pursuit of victory.