SPRINGFIELD, N.J. – After a awful time on the greens during the first round of the PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy returned to Baltusrol Golf Club on Thursday evening to work on his putting.
Advertisement
He is not scheduled to play again until the Barclays, the first FedEx Cup playoff event on the PGA Tour, in three weeks. At 9 under overall, Streb finds himself tied for the lead with Jimmy Walker, two shots ahead of the rest of the field.
That will make it hard to finish the third round on Sunday, much less squeeze in 36 holes for the leaders.
Baltusrol had already been soaked by three inches of rain this week, creating soft conditions that had five-time major victor Phil Mickelson, the 2005 PGA victor at Baltusrol, predicting a major-record 62 or better for the weekend.
The heavy rain forced officials to put the lift, clean and place rule in effect for the final round.
As the early groups finished, eyes turned towards forecasts and radar screens, waiting to see if the ominous lines of thunderstorms would bring a deluge or merely sprinkle the course with light rain.
Couple that with the softened fairways and greens, and metropolitan golf fans, as well as those watching the world over, could bear witness to some of the most exciting golf ever played at a major championship as the 98th PGA comes to a close.
Kisner birdied three of the last four holes for a 65 to grab the clubhouse lead. Because the pairings stayed the same in an attempt to finish, Kisner was to tee off in the final round while the leaders were still playing the front nine of their third round.
All was well with a 3-wood from almost 260 yards, into a slight breeze, on the par-5 18th that set up his eagle. “I left it a foot short”.
As he was finishing, Harris English began his third round by missing his tee shot so far to the right that he couldn’t play it and wound up making a double bogey.
Still to be determined was who had the advantage. Padraig Harrington and Kevin Kisner were two of 37 players who managed to finish their third round on Saturday and they did it in style, shooting 5-under 65s to move up the leaderboard. I played lovely golf yesterday.
Asked if he would be unhappy about having to play 36 holes in sloppy conditions, Leishman smiled and said, “There’s no real bad day on a golf course, is there?”
Advertisement
McIlroy faced a battle to make the weekend after using 35 putts and failing to make a single birdie in his opening 74, although he dug deep and came to the last hole thinking he needed a birdie when a par would have extended his tournament. It’s a major championship and we want it to be run and performed as a major championship.
