The only problem is neither of them played any golf on Saturday at Baltusrol Golf Club.
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A crowd moving toward an exit near the first hole on Saturday.
“We feel it’s important for all the players to play from the first tee and play the holes in order”, Haigh said.
Instead, it was a washout.
Play was abandoned on day three of the PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club, New Jersey, after persistent rain and the continuing threat of lightning storms Saturday.
Jimmy Walker and Robert Streb slept on the lead for the second day in a row at the PGA Championship.
“Our primary aim is to finish [this] evening”, Kerry Haigh, the PGA of America’s championship officer said.
And if there’s no more delays, this PGA Championship might reach that goal. We were one putt away from it being an even 70 players, which would be an 80-minute shorter block of tee times needed on Saturday and Sunday.
The two Americans were the last of 43 groups scheduled to begin Saturday’s third round, but their 2:55 p.m. ET tee time was wiped out once play was suspended at 2:14 p.m.
To save time, the groups will not be rearranged based on score before the final round. “It’s nice when you score better than you play”. This was also one of those horns that did not give players the option of finishing the hole they were on – instead, you had to stop immediately and pick up where you were in the round. “That will be an interesting dynamic, for sure. Add to the excitement, actually”.
And, while hindsight is 20-20, it could have been avoided. “Our hope is that those showers or storms hit elsewhere”. So even though he ranks 140th in the FedEx Cup standings and will miss several chances to improve that, barring an unlikely win in the PGA his decision to attend other events in Rio figures to cost him a playoff berth.
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. “Unfortunately the weather didn’t help us”.
It wasn’t raining yet, but play had been suspended for risky weather in the area.
Jimmy Walker took a one-shot lead into the second round at Baltusrol and did not play until the afternoon.
If it does extend until Monday, it will be the first time for the PGA Championship since 2005, when it also was held at Baltusrol.
Thousands packed the grounds as Mickelson shot a morning 68. He marked it with two tees, and walked back down the second and first fairways back to the clubhouse.
He split the fairway with his tee shot, made flawless contact with a wedge from 126 yards and his ball nearly landed straight in the hole before catching just enough of the lip to drop for his eagle. Streb had tied a major championship record Friday with a 63.
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He said with the greens being so receptive and with a lack of wind “there’s a 61 or a 62 out there for the taking”.
