The third round of the PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club has been called for the day after almost four hours of play being suspended by unsafe weather that included a lot of heavy rain.
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Play will resume at 7 a.m. Sunday, when much of the field will wrap up its round and the final groups will begin a day late.
Even as Walker and Day were finishing their rounds, the fourth round already had begun on rain-soaked Baltusrol.
Jimmy Walker and Robert Streb slept on the lead for the second day in a row at the PGA Championship. He and nine others had to play their entire third round Sunday morning after heavy rains forced a suspension of play on Saturday.
“Somebody is going to break that 63 record in these next two days”, Mickelson said after firing a third-round 68. As a matter of fact, Mickelson shot 5-over on the first hole of every round but has been 6-under the rest of the weekend.
On Saturday at Baltusrol, during the third round of the 98th PGA Championship, waiting was the order of the day.
“The rain (Friday) really changed the way it’s played”, Mickelson said. “Obviously if you get off to a bad start, you’re thinking about it, and vice versa is if you get off to a good start, you’re thinking about it as well”.
Walker calmly made it to capture the PGA Championship, ending a long and wet week at Baltusrol, and still having just enough strength left to hoist the 37-pound Wanamaker Trophy.
Walker, the PGA’s first wire-to-wire victor since Phil Mickelson at Baltusrol in 2005, missed the cut in three of the prior four majors and was never better than seventh in 17 prior major starts.
In the 2005 PGA Championship, they chose not to move up the tee times on Sunday with a high possibility of storms in the forecast, and Phil Mickelson had to return to play five holes to secure a one-shot victory. Walker, who shot a 68 in the morning for a one-shot lead over Day, didn’t make a bogey over the last 28 holes. “I think there’s a 61 or 62 out there because it’s par 70, the greens are pristine, they’re rolling beautifully, and they’re soft”.
Mickelson enjoyed one of the most visible challenges for 62 at the British Open two weeks ago when his putt for the record burned the edge of the cup. It was just an average day, as I said.
Walker’s victory completes a year of first-time major champions, joining Masters champion Danny Willett of England, American U.S. Open victor Dustin Johnson and British Open champion Henrik Stenson.
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Length off the tee was a near prerequisite to contend this week but Kenny Harms Kevin Nas caddie suggested during a practice round that the championship could end up being a putting contest. Play was suspended before the first one arrived and the second two were between 30-35 miles away from the first one. “If they get to 12, 13-under, that’s going to be a tall task”.
