A storm arrived in the afternoon, bringing lighting and heavy rain, and the horn blew to stop play 40 minutes before leaders Robert Streb and Jimmy Walker, tied at 9 under, were supposed to tee off.
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Whether the course will be playable by then or if more potential downpours will hold off are anyone’s guesses. “The Rules of Golf are there to cover wet weather”, he said, referring to such exceptions as standing water.
The third round was to resume at 7 a.m., weather permitting.
Kerry Kaigh, the chief championship officer for the PGA of America, said there were three cells of unsafe weather.
“I thought that as I had put in a lot of work the previous year, I was excited about where my game was at and I’ve been shooting some really low scores this past week or two, not just from the British, but from there to here”, Mickelson said after shooting a 2-under 68 in Saturday’s third round to move to 1-under overall before play was suspended because of rain. They’re stuck sending the players off of one tee and in groups of two at this point, but they’re going to try and get things in by Sunday night.
“It’s a major championship and we want it to be run and performed as a major championship”, Haigh said.
Jason Day, reigning PGA champion and No. 1 in the world, is tied for third with Emiliano Grillo of Argentina at 7-under.
“I haven’t hit a golf shot today, so hopefully we can get it in over the next day or so”.
Numerous marquee players didn’t get to finish their rounds, but Bubba Watson, Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth all took the course. “If you don’t, you can start playing some poor golf”.
The last time the PGA was held at Baltusrol, in 2005, weather pushed the finish to Monday when Phil Mickelson birdied the 18th to claim victory. I think somebody is going to break that 63 record in these next two days. The greens are pristine. They both shot 4-under 66s to get to 2 under.
Of possibly seeing a 62, Mickelson reasoned that players could use the greens as dart boards, and with Baltusrol playing at a par of 70, eight birdies and no bogeys is required to reach the magic number. I think it will be broken in the next two days. “I would be surprised if it wasn’t”.
Baltusrol has surrendered four major 63s, the most of any course, and the PGA has allowed 14 63s, as many as the USA and British Opens combined.
“You’ll see very low scoring because you can be very aggressive”, said two-time major victor Martin Kaymer of Germany, four off the pace. “You’ve got to shoot low scores in order to have a chance on Sunday”.
Haigh could not think of the last time the players were not paired according to their 54-hole score for the final round. If you’re getting worn out, it’s the head that gets exhausted.
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“You keep it in the fairway, you can attack”, Kisner said. “The course is receptive enough”. But once again, I get in a hole earlier than him, so if I can maybe get a couple of birdies on the finishing par fives, that may put a bit of pressure on him to actually hit a shot coming in or down the stretch.
