He had seven birdies in a eight-hole stretch to earn a spot with Grillo in the penultimate pairing.
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Streb, who has one PGA Tour victory, rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt on his last hole, the ninth at Baltusrol, for the 30th round of 63 ever shot in a major championship.
After missing the cut in all three previous majors this year, Streb matched a major championship record with a 63 on Friday. PGA Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh met with the players in the first group after they signed their cards to offer an explanation and apologize.
“It was pretty noisy for the 15 people that were out there”, Streb said. His lone slip-up was a bogey on the par-three 16th hole. He hit his drive on No. 17 onto a patio of one of the hospitality tents and was given a drop from where he was able to make par.
Looming large two strokes behind are defending champion Day, and 23-year-old Emiliano Grillo of Argentina, with Stenson three back at rain-softened Baltusrol.
Fourth-ranked McIlroy closed with a bogey at the par-5 18th to miss the weekend, pushing for a birdie to be sure of the weekend with the cut line in flux. “If you start getting golf balls that are bouncing, it can land on the green and run off. Now it’s just sort of landing and stopping, which is somewhat easy golf”.
Day shot a 5-under 65.
Day is trying to join Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back PGA champions since 1958 when the stroke-play era began.
Just like Walker and Streb, he has never even contended in a major. “I mean, I’ve been in these situations before, not in a major”. “I’m going to go out and enjoy it”. Wherever it finished, it was out of bounds, and Mickelson had to scramble for a triple bogey. He spent the rest of the day battling to get back, and he delivered on the 18th with a birdie to post a 70. Just a handful of nervous shots from Ryan Helminen at the 2016 PGA Championship that sent him home early for the third time in three years. “I think we could have all started by 9 o’clock or so and we would have been all fine”.
No need to. Someone pointed out that Nicolas Colsaerts piped two over the fence and made 8.
“I’m having a hard time right now managing my expectations, because I know how well I’m playing and I’m so result-oriented that I’m not playing very relaxed, free golf like I did at the British, like I did in the preparation here”, Mickelson said.
A dozen players were separated by five shots going into the weekend, a group that included Martin Kaymer and Patrick Reed, and even Rickie Fowler, who salvaged his round with a birdie-eagle finish. Fisher made birdie on the two closing par 5s for his 66.
Jordan Spieth warmed up on the range, rode the side streets in a van to get to the 10th tee and was ready to go Friday in the PGA Championship when he had to stand around for almost an hour because of a rain delay.
The PGA of America Rules Committee did not notice the hole had been cut in the incorrect location until after each member of the first group of the day had hit his second shot to the green.
Johnson, the U.S. Open champion with a chance to go to No. 1 in the world, was in the trees, in the water and couldn’t get out of a bunker.
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Andrew “Beef” Johnston, the Englishman who has become a crowd favorite with his constant smile and bushy beard, moved into the Top Ten for the PGA Championship with a 2-under 34 on the back nine. “It just shows you how bad I was around the greens”.
