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Hmm, everyone at the top moving backwards at the moment. From the centre of the 1st fairway, Scottie Scheffler pulls his approach into a bunker on the left, while Alex Noren sends his into a trap on the right. Neither can get up and down, and that’s a pair of opening bogeys in the final match. Jon Rahm pars 2, though, so at least somebody’s holding their position.
-10: Scheffler (1)
-7: Noren (1)
-6: Rahm (2), Riley (1), Poston (1)
Davis Riley is looking to follow up his tie for 21st at Augusta with another high finish at a major. But the 28-year-old from Mississippi hasn’t started well. An opening bogey. He slips to -6, as does his playing partner JT Poston, who pays the price for failing to get up and down from the bank at the front of the green. Poston is another local hero, from Hickory, a mere 60 miles from Quail Hollow. He’s already won one big prize in his home state of North Carolina, the 2019 Wyndham Championship Greater Greensboro Open (deletion made for the benefit of purists). This isn’t an ideal start in his pursuit of home-state prize number two.
Noren only has two top-ten finishes at the majors in his entire career. Both of them came at the Open, in 2012 and 2017. But he’s won ten times on the European Tour, securing some big titles as well, including the Scottish Open, French Open, and the biggest of the lot, the BMW PGA Championship. So the hard-working Swede – check those famously calloused hands – has both moxie and game to add the US version of the PGA to his CV.
The leader Scottie Scheffler tees it up. If he’s feeling nerves, they’re not betraying him on his face. A huge roar from the gallery for the big man from Texas. He gracefully larrups a gentle fade around the trees down the right and he’s in position A on the fairway. He’s going round with Alex Noren today. No nerves evident from the Swedish veteran, either, as he splits the fairway. A quiet start meanwhile for Bryson DeChambeau: par-par-par. The high-point so far a whip over a huge tree to get himself back into position on 3. He remains at -5.
Matt Fitzpatrick might have rendered himself realistically done and dusted. But that’s not going to stop him battling for every shot and a high finish. He’s responded to that bogey-bogey start by raking in long birdie putts on the next two holes to return to his starting point. Meanwhile Jon Rahm’s quest to “play well” begins with par; his playing partner Kim Si-woo drops a stroke, though. So this is where we are now, with the last match preparing to tee off.
-11: Scheffler
-8: Noren
-7: Riley, Poston
-6: Griffin (8), Rahm (1)
-5: English (15), Scott (4), Fitzpatrick (4), Finau (2), DeChambeau (2), Vegas (1), Kim (1)
Harris English is another who could sell his round to the chasing pack for decent coin. The 35-year-old Georgian has just put together a run of four birdies in five holes – at 11, 12, 14 and 15 – to rise to -5. He’s got three top-ten major-championship finishes on his resumé, all at the US Open. As things stand, he’s set for a fourth … but here comes that Green Mile.
Matthieu Pavon followed up his short birdie miss at 1 by sending his tee shot at 2 into the trees. That led to a double bogey, and dreams of becoming only the second male French player in history to win a major, after 1907 Open champion Arnaud Massey, are dust. He’s -3. Also going the wrong way: the 2011 winner Keegan Bradley and his playing partner Jhonattan Vegas, who both bogey 1. They’re -4 and -5 respectively.
Another birdie for Ben Griffin, this time at 7. He’s four under for his round, and -6 overall for the championship. He could sell this start to those starting their round further up the leaderboard for a good chunk of change. Keeping it up will be the problem: the aforementioned Sam Burns was five under through his first eight holes today, only to play the remainder in one-over par. But whatever happens now to Griffin, the local lad from the renowned university town of Chapel Hill, will be posting his highest finish at a major. This is the first time he’s made the cut at one. It could be a top-ten finish, you never know.
So much was expected from Rory McIlroy this week. So much for the concept of Rory McIlroy Country Club (© Jordan Spieth, all rights reserved). His bid was pretty much scuppered from the get-go, with that opening round of 74, and he only really brought anything like his good stuff on Friday, with a 69. He’s just followed up yesterday’s 72 with the same score, and finishes the week +3. Ah well, he’ll always have Augusta. As he loads his clubs into the back of the car to go home, he runs into Jon Rahm, who is only just off to work, and slaps his European Ryder Cup buddy on the back, sending him off with a cheery “play well!” Sad to see the newest member of the career-slam club leave the course so early, but that’s golf for you.
The 2023 US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick’s slim hopes seem pretty much extinguished already. A miss to the left on 1 costs him a shot; a miss to the right on 2 costs him another. He’s back to -3 and only has pounds, points and position to play for now.
A fast start is essential if anyone from the chasing pack is to apply pressure on Scottie Scheffler. Ben Griffin started too far back to be a contender, but he’s currently showing what can be done, with birdies at 2, 3 and 5. He’s -3. Matthieu Pavon however is within swinging distance going into the final round, and it looks like he’s made the perfect start by clipping his approach at 1 from 180 yards to six feet. But he prods meekly at the birdie putt, and remains at -5.
Here we are at the business end of the 107th PGA Championship, then. Somebody will most likely have to go low if they’re to catch Scottie Scheffler. So is it possible on the early evidence? Nobody’s gone super-low as of yet: Sam Burns has been the best of the morning starters, back in the hutch with a 67, while Xander Schauffele signed off the defence of his title with a 68. They finish the week -2 and -1 respectively. But most of the pins are accessible, so while the greens are firming up, and the wind is picking up, nothing is off the table.
Preamble
This is Scottie’s to lose. But anything can happen on any given major-championship Sunday – it’s only three years since Justin Thomas won from a record-equalling seven back, after all – and there are plenty of big names lurking should the world number one somehow misplace his mojo. Thing is, it was Mito Pereira who led going into that historic day in 2022; today it’s Scheffler, the world number one, who yesterday evening laid waste both the field and Quail Hollow’s notorious closing stretch with some out-of-this-world, carpe-diem golf (beginning here). Still, you never know. Here’s how the top of the leaderboard looked at the end of the third round …
-11: Scottie Scheffler
-8: Alex Noren
-7: Davis Riley, JT Poston
-6: Jon Rahm, Kim Si-woo, Jhonattan Vegas
-5: Keegan Bradley, Tony Finau, Bryson DeChambeau, Matthieu Pavon, Matt Fitzpatrick
… and here are the tee times (all BST). It’s on!
13.10 Chris Kirk (US), Sergio Garcia (Spa)
13.20 Bud Cauley (US), Byeong Hun An (Kor)
13.30 Brian Campbell (US), Elvis Smylie (Aus)
13.40 Austin Eckroat (US), Brian Harman (US)
13.50 Tom Kim (Kor), Michael Kim (US)
14.00 Nicolai Højgaard (Den), Stephan Jaeger (Ger)
14.10 Justin Lower (US), Kevin Yu (Tai)
14.20 Daniel Berger (US), Rasmus Højgaard (Den)
14.30 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Collin Morikawa (US)
14.40 Xander Schauffele (US), Sam Burns (US)
14.50 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (SA), Rory McIlroy (NI)
15.10 Richard Bland (Eng), Sam Stevens (US)
15.20 Tom McKibbin (NI), Corey Conners (Can)
15.30 Luke Donald (Eng), Thorbjørn Olesen (Den)
15.40 Marco Penge (Eng), Beau Hossler (US)
15.50 Max Homa (US), Wyndham Clark (US)
16.00 Harris English (US), Aaron Rai (Eng)
16.10 Eric Cole (US), Nico Echavarria (Col)
16.20 Rafael Campos (Pur), Cameron Young (US)
16.30 Michael Thorbjornsen (US), Tyrrell Hatton (Eng)
16.40 Harry Hall (Eng), Taylor Moore (US)
16.50 Joaquin Niemann (Chi), Viktor Hovland (Nor)
17.10 Robert MacIntyre (Sco), David Puig (Spa)
17.20 JJ Spaun (US), Alex Smalley (US)
17.30 Taylor Pendrith (Can), Maverick McNealy (US)
17.40 Ben Griffin (US), Ryo Hisatsune (Jpn)
17.50 Ryan Fox (NZ), Max Greyserman (US)
18.00 Denny McCarthy (US), Ryan Gerard (US)
18.10 Lucas Glover (US), Cam Davis (Aus)
18.20 Joe Highsmith (US), Garrick Higgo (SA)
18.30 Matt Wallace (Eng), Adam Scott (Aus)
18.40 Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)
19.00 Tony Finau (US), Bryson DeChambeau (US)
19.10 Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Keegan Bradley (US)
19.20 Jon Rahm (Spa), Kim Si-woo (Kor)
19.30 Davis Riley (US), JT Poston (US)
19.40 Scottie Scheffler (US), Alex Noren (Swe)
