Thunderstorms suspended play at 2:14 p.m. EDT at the course in Springfield, N.J., before the leaders could tee off and stopping action on a day where the earlier starters had found such favorable conditions that Phil Mickelson predicted a player might break the 18-hole scoring record of 63 in a major.
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Of the 86 players to make the cut, just the top 10 were unable to start their rounds before play was halted.
The PGA of America said competition was scheduled to resume at 7 a.m. Sunday, but the forecast for Saturday night and for overnight called for more rain.
Saturday’s pairings will carry over into both rounds on Sunday. Why didn’t the PGA anticipate the forecast better, adjust its schedule and squeeze more third-round play into Saturday? 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.
Joint leaders Robert Streb and Jimmy Walker are nine under, two clear of Australia’s world number one Jason Day and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo.
“I’m glad we got the third round in”, Day said after the area dodged expected morning storms.
And speaking to RTE Sport following his round, Harrington said: “I played average today, but I scored well”. Our hope is that those showers or storms hit elsewhere.
Walker is looking to be the first wire-to-wire PGA champion since Phil Mickelson won, also at Baltusrol in 2005. 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.
Lee Mirim couldn’t match her great golf of the first round, but a 71 was still good enough to hold the halfway lead on 11 under par 133 at the Women’s British Open at Woburn on Friday. “And that’s exactly what we got”, Haigh said.
Haigh batted away the hindsight questions – “Why didn’t you better predict the weather?” – well, saying essentially we didn’t get as lucky Saturday as we did the first two days. Padraig Harrington and Kevin Kisner were two of 37 players who managed to finish their third round on Saturday and they did it in style, shooting five-under 65s to move up the leaderboard.
Players were to be texted Saturday evening for their fourth-round tee time.
“I think there’s that 61 or 62 out there”.
By the end of the day, it was easy to overlook a familiar figure – Henrik Stenson, the British Open champion who made eagle on the 18th at the turn and polished off another 67.
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Stenson was fifth on 134 with Germany’s Kaymer, the 2010 PGA Championship and 2014 US Open victor, another stroke back with Americans Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and Kisner. 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.
