With the leaders still about two hours from teeing off in the third round of the PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club, the player drawing the biggest gallery was Phil Mickelson. The plan for Sunday is to attempt to complete both rounds three and four, which means roughly half the field will play more than 18 holes Sunday. It’s supposed to be very bad – more of the same stuff that forced a suspension at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday and ended the golf for the entire day.
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This PGA is already beginning to resemble the last time the championship came here, in 2005. Thirteen of the first 22 players to play the hole made birdie and another one made eagle, while just one bogey was made.
Meanwhile, American Jimmy Walker posted a second consecutive strong round, but countryman Robert Streb shot a remarkable seven-under 63 to grab a share of the lead at the halfway point of the tournament, reports Efe.
With rain scheduled to continue into Sunday, the possibility loomed that the competition would have to be carried into Monday.
Well, Mickelson clearly changed from early Friday, when he opened his first hole with a triple bogey, including a shot that left Baltusrol altogether, bounced down the street and ended in a neighbor’s yard.
“I think that major record of 63 will be broken today or tomorrow”, Mickelson told TNT after shooting 68 in the third round.
Padraig Harrington also took advantage of early conditions on Saturday with a five-under 65, which earned him a spot in the top 10. The course was pounded with rain, and more than three hours later, play was called off for the day.
With Walker and Streb still at 9-under for the tournament, Watson would likely need a bit of help in addition to a fantastic final round to move closer to contention.
Two-time major victor Martin Kaymer was one shot behind, and British Open champion Henrik Stenson was two shots back.
Day dropped to even par with a double bogey on No. 7, and that appeared to wake up the world’s No. 1 player.
“The forecast is similar to what it has been the previous two days, with a chance of rain in the afternoon, summer showers”.
Asked whether that was considered, Kerry Haigh, chief championships officers for the PGA of America, replied: “Not significantly. I think there’s just a lot of birdie holes”. I think you better attack it every time you get a chance on the PGA Tour, he said after his round on Saturday.
Five-time major victor Phil Mickelson predicted the all-time major low-round record of 63, achieved 30 times by 28 different golfers, will fall this weekend at Baltusrol.
“There is a low 60s round”, Mickelson said when he finished.
“I needed to kind of take a step back and be a little more patient, because this was a great opportunity to put it together”, Mickelson said.
“Not really, ” McIlroy said Friday after missing the cut by bogeying the par-5 18th hole, which played as the easiest hole on the course.
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“So you’re going to hit a lot of fairways and the ability to hit 6-, 7-, 8-iron at the pin and have the ball just stop right by its divot is taking away the challenge of the greens”.
