How they deal with the conditions following Saturday’s weather will go a long way toward impacting the ultimate victor, but Day and Streb had plenty of momentum after their showings on Friday.
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Thunderstorms that prevented leaders from starting the third round of the PGA Championship on Saturday set the stage for a freakish finish at rain-swamped Baltusrol.
USA co-leaders Robert Streb, who matched the low round in major history with a seven-under par 63 on Friday, and Jimmy Walker were on nine-under 131 after 36 holes.
The third round will resume at 7 a.m.
“That will be an interesting dynamic, for sure”, said Kerry Haigh, the PGA of America’s managing director of championships. Here are five things we learned at the PGA Championship Saturday.
More rain is in the forecast for Sunday. The final pairing is scheduled to begin at 3:25 p.m.
To save time, the groups will not be rearranged based on score before the final round. It’s nice when you score better than you play.
Among those who will have to play only one round each are Kevin Kisner and Padraig Harrington, who each finished Saturday with a 5-under-par 65 and moved to 5-under and 4-under for the tournament, respectively. “It’s normally the mind that gives up before the body; the body is normally fine to play two rounds of golf”. “Add to the excitement, actually”.
That’s one way to look at it, but there was nothing exciting about Saturday. Now, it will end in August anyway, with play extending past the weekend, after rain washed away afternoon action at Baltusrol Golf Club. They will now have to wait a full two days until they get to take the course again.
Haigh responded that the Saturday forecast wasn’t much different from the previous days, and they were caught off guard by the intensity and length of the storm. “Our hope is that those showers or storms hit elsewhere”.
“We feel it’s important for all the players to play from the first tee and play the holes in order”, Haigh said. “Unfortunately the weather didn’t help us”.
It was the second time the PGA rolled the dice at Baltusrol and failed. A HUUUUUUUUGGGE if, considering the Sunday forecast is horrific.
The last time the PGA was held at Baltusrol, in 2005, weather pushed the finish to Monday when Phil Mickelson birdied the 18th to claim victory.
Saturday ended up being a washout, but started as a promising day at Baltusrol.
Thousands packed the grounds as Mickelson shot a morning 68. The crowds grew throughout the day, swelling to 10 deep around the first fairway as Jordan Spieth teed off. With no let up in the wet weather in sight, play was called off at 6 p.m.
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Russell Knox lagged a 65-foot birdie attempt on the 18th hole, tapped in for a par and a 67 to reach 3-under 207, and then heard the horn as Marc Leishman was getting ready for his 12-foot birdie attempt. He, along with the rest of the competitors, will return this morning to a golf course that has become much easier because of the rain this week.
