Jimmy Walker overcame a few wild tee shots with four birdies on the back nine for a 2-under 68 and a one-shot lead over defending champion Jason Day going into the final round of the rain-plagued PGA Championship.
Advertisement
Stenson was the only other major victor besides Day in the Top 10 after 54 holes. They are scheduled to begin their final round at 3:16 p.m.
It was the third time in five years that weather messed with the PGA Championship.
Play will resume at 7 a.m.to complete the third round with the final round of the year’s final major to follow.
The leading 10 players through 36 holes failed to tee off on Saturday and after a three-hour and 40-minute delay it was officially suspended for the day.
Leaders were unable to start their third round Saturday due to afternoon thunderstorms but 37 of 86 players did finish and they will stay in the same pairings and begin the fourth round in the morning in a bid to finish the event Sunday, despite storms in the afternoon forecast.
“I just hope I can pick up some timing”, he said. “There’s [an] element of luck involved in you don’t do that because of the amount of mud that will get on the ball as well as the inability to finish the round because of not being able to take full relief from the fairway. Keep the pedal down'”.
Robert Streb, who tied a major championship record with a 63 on Friday and shared the lead with Walker, fell to a 72 Sunday for 203, tying him with William McGirt (66) and Hideki Matsuyama (67).
“I think the plus side was that I didn’t actually have to go out”, Day said. “If you don’t, you can start playing some poor golf”.
Should he win, Day would become the first to successfully defend a major championship title since Tiger Woods at the 2007 PGA Championship and the sixth different player to successfully defend a PGA Championship title joining Gene Sarazen (1922-1923), Walter Hagen (1924-1927), Denny Shute (1936-1937) and Woods (1999-2000, 2006-2007).
“It would be really nice to get that second major under my belt”, Day said. “I’m looking forward to the challenge of going out there and trying to win my second major”.
Stenson, coming off his first major victory two weeks ago at Royal Troon, was concerned about the mental grind of the weather and the physical toll of dawn-to-dark play.
Another stroke back lurks British Open victor Henrik Stenson of Sweden. A big week by Koepka could all but clinch a spot on his first Ryder Cup team.
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.
Jordan Spieth finished with eight straight pars, missing good birdie chances along the way, and had to settle for a 69. That left him seven shots behind, which would require a record-tying comeback at the PGA Championship to have any chance.
Otherwise, another Monday finish loomed, and that was only part of the unpredictable nature of this PGA Championship. Phil Mickelson won on a Monday in 2005.
So forgive the absence of a weighty preamble: it’s going to be a long day, one way or the other.
On Saturday at Baltusrol, during the third round of the 98th PGA Championship, waiting was the order of the day.
Advertisement
Walker shot a 2-under 68 for an 11-under 199 total after three soggy trips around Baltusrol Golf Club.
