Robert Streb, who matched the all-time major record low Friday with a seven-under par 63, and fellow American Jimmy Walker shared the lead on nine-under with top-ranked defending champion Jason Day of Australia and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo.
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Tied for the lead at 9-under par, they faced a 36-hole Sunday, provided the course could be ready by 7 a.m.
Walker and Streb would play all 36 holes, if possible, on Sunday.
Play in the 98th PGA Championship has been halted until Sunday morning, PGA officials announced on Saturday after thunderstorms had stopped Saturday’s third round for more than 3 1/2 hours. Everything clicked for Kisner, who also moved carded a 65 to get to 5 under on Saturday. He made a “horrific” start to the second round of the PGA Championship on Friday but recovered to make the cut with nothing to spare, while McIlroy’s bogey at the last saw him miss out by one stroke.
And with play suspended at 2:15 p.m., we’ll have to wait for Sunday for the conclusion of a third round that offered players a good chance to score on Baltusrol’s rain-softened lower course, where several of the 37 players who finished posted scores in the mid-60s.
The US PGA Championship could be destined for a Monday finish upon its return to the New Jersey venue at which Phil Mickelson triumphed in 2005.
Kerry Kaigh, the chief championship officer for the PGA of America, said there were three cells of unsafe weather. He shot 67 and was at 3 under, but even the two putts he hit were enough to indicate that the greens were softer and slower than usual.
“The ability to hit 6, 7, 8-irons at the pin and have the ball stop is taking away the challenge of the greens”, Mickelson said. The course was pounded with rain and players eventually were sent home.
And now another Monday finish at Baltusrol Golf Club is a real possibility, because the leaders didn’t play a single shot on Saturday.
“I put a little bit too much pressure on myself and forced it a little bit”, he added. They both shot 4-under 66s to get to 2 under.
Patrick Reed and Webb Simpson had moved into the group at three under, one behind Spieth, but Martin Kaymer and Open champion Henrik Stenson were heading in the wrong direction. “It’s normally the mind that gives up before the body… the body is normally fine to play two rounds of golf”. It’s going to be a fascinating day of golf.
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Mickelson looked stunned as he trudged to the second tee but settled down and had only one further blemish, a bogey at the 16th, before closing with a birdie at the par-five 18th to make the cut with nothing to spare.
