NOT A BAD DAY: Defending champion Jason Day was among the 10 who were completely washed out Saturday and are slated to play 36 holes today.
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Saturday at the PGA Championship was a dreary one.
In a most peculiar final day at a major, the PGA Championship allowed for preferred lies – that never happens in a major – because of almost 4 inches of rain during the week that drenched the Lower Course.
The good play was enough to lift him within three shots of co-leaders Jimmy Walker and Robert Streb, who were yet to tee off when he putted out at the 18th.
Another American in Kevin Kisner is the clubhouse leader on five-under-par. Former PGA champion Padraig Harrington also shot a 65 and was at 206, with Russell Knox at 207 after a 67.
That’s the plan for the restart of the third round, which 37 of the 86 players have completed.
– Steve Elling, Bleacher Report golf writer, at 12:51 p.m. Play was stopped 23 minutes later.
Haigh said that the weather Sunday morning will determine whether they re-pair for the final round. “Add to the excitement, actually”.
It was the second time the PGA rolled the dice at Baltusrol and failed.
The 2005 PGA champion the last time it was held at Baltusrol, Mickelson himself has a chance to shoot the mark – and will need it to have any hope of a repeat performance at Baltusrol. He could be in contention heading into the final round with wind and rain in the forecast over the weekend. “And that’s exactly what we got”, Haigh said.
If someone like Walker were to win the PGA Championship, it would be only the fifth time dating to 1934 that the four majors were swept by first-timers.
He played the final 28 holes without a bogey. Rory McIlroy won both of them. The third round was scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. EDT on Sunday.
The weather created a tricky scenario for the rest of the tournament. There is no defense for soft greens, however, and it showed. Robert Streb shot to the top of the leaderboard Friday with a 63, and that came with a bogey on his card.
Harrington was in the 11th pairing on Saturday and Kisner the 15th.
Day made the eagle putt, and the lead was down to one.
It was Walker’s best score in a major.
“Two-putting from that is pretty hard, especially trying to go for your first major”, Day said.
Players who teed off early in the day enjoyed more of the soft greens and great scoring conditions from Friday’s round. “That’s the nature of the game”.
“You keep it in the fairway, you can attack”, Kisner said. A lot of birdie holes, and a lot of golf left to be played. “You’ve got to shoot low scores in order to have a chance on Sunday”.
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“I think that major record of 63 will be broken today or tomorrow”, Mickelson told TNT after shooting 68 in the third round. “The greens are pristine, warm and attractive. You are going to hit a lot of fairways”.
