Round 3 Leaderboard:
-11 Scottie Scheffler (F)
-8 Alex Noren (F)
-7 Davis Riley (F), JT Poston (F), Jhonattan Vegas (17)
-6 Jon Rahm (F), Matthieu Pavon (17), Si-Woo Kim (F)
-5 Tony Finau (F), Keegan Bradley (F), Bryson DeChambeau (F), Matthew Fitzpatrick (17)
Others:
+2 Tom McKibbin (F), R McIlroy (F)
Selected revised tee times:
16:43 Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton, Wyndham Clark
16:48 Rafael Campos, Matt Wallace, Tom McKibbin
17:05 Viktor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
17:49 Taylor Pendrith, Bryson DeChambeau, Richard Bland
18:38 Chris Kirk, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele
18:44 Si Woo Kim, Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler
18:55 Jhonattan Vegas, Matthieu Pavon, Matt Fitzpatrick
And yet another bird for Scottie Scheffler at the last. He takes a three shot lead in to the final round. Bold prediction: He has a chance tomorrow.
Thanks for your company. Now, go to bed.
And another birdie for Scottie Scheffler, the man is flying. He’s now two clear of Alex Noren at the top of the leaderboard with one hole to play.
Rory McIlroy sinks a lengthy putt for par, but while the crowd around the green are going decidedly wild, he’s showing no enthusiasm at all. It’s been a long day. He stays on +2 with two holes to go.
An eagle on the 14th, a birdie on the 15th, safe to say, Scottie Scheffler has a bit of a chance of winning this tournament. At -9, he’s the leader.
It’d be some story if this man triumphed on Sunday.....
A nightmare of a couple holes for Bryson DeChambeau - a bogey and double-bogey sees him drop from the lead to tied for ninth.
There were we hailing Bryson DeChambeau, part two: he’s just found the water at the 17th.
There were we hailing Bryson DeChambeau, and with that he dropped a shot. He now shares the lead with - deep breath - Scottie Scheffler, Alex Noren, Jhonattan Vegas and Davis Riley. This tournament is, frankly, mad.
Okay....
Bryson DeChambeau is on a serious roll, he’s just gone a shot clear of Davis Riley and Jhonattan Vegas at the top of the leaderboard and he’s pumping the air like there’s no tomorrow. Which there is, of course, namely D-Day.
Tom McKibbin ends his third round on +2 after a 74, three bogeys in his last seven holes, including the last, taking the shine off a steady start to the day.
We have ourselves a four-way lead, Bryson DeChambeau joining Scottie Scheffler, Jhonattan Vegas and Jon Rahm on top of the leaderboard. It’s the mother all battles, this tournament.
Jon Rahm takes a share of the lead with Scottie Scheffler and Jhonattan Vegas with his third birdie in a row. On fire, this man.
Rory McIlroy completes the front nine with a par - two bogeys and birdie so far today has him on +2, he needs once heckuva back nine to turn things around. A miracle, even.
“Dude, next time aim better.”
A strong boy, is Bryson.....
Plenty of pluck from Jhonattan Vegas today. Having taken a two shot lead in to the third round, he promptly dropped shots on his first two holes. But a birdie has him back in a share of the lead with Scottie Scheffler and Si Woo Kim.
Nope, it’s just not Rory McIlroy’s day. He drops a shot at the 17th, having started on the 10th, and falls back to +2.
Scottie Scheffler takes a share of the lead with Si Woo Kim. He had a chance with an eagle putt to take a solo lead, but he left it short. No mistake with a tricky enough birdie putt, though.
Tom McKibbin was having the steadiest of rounds, but he’s now had two bogeys on the trot with five holes left to play. He’s fallen back to +1.
Oh heck. McIlroy drops a shot on the par five 15th after going out of bounds with his tee shot. He’s back to +1, you’d be starting to sense this won’t be his weekend.
Back-to-back birdies for Scottie Scheffler, he’s now just a shot off the lead. He’s quite useful, this fella.
Rory McIlroy has his first birdie of the day, lifting him to level par for the tournament.
Jon Rahm picks up his fourth birdie of the day and moves to -5, just two shots off leader Si-Woo Kim.
SW Kim takes the lead after a birdie at the fourth!
A heck of a charge by Maverick McNealy, he’s up to -4 after an eagle and two birdies in his first six holes.
McIlroy’s putt drifts left of his second hole, so no birdie there. He stays at +1.
We have a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard after Jhonattan Vegas dropped shots on his first two holes - he’s now on -6 with Matthieu Pavon, Si-Woo Kim and Matthew Fitzpatrick.
A bit of a horror start for leader Jhonattan Vegas. After dropping a shot on his first it looks like he might be about to do the same on his second.
A nervy start for McIlroy, but he makes par on the 10th, his first hole, to stay at +1. Xander Schauffele picks up a shot, though, to move to even. Leader Jhonattan Vegas and Scottie Scheffler both drop shots at their firsts. It’s all happening.
A wild enough second shot from McIlroy, off the green to the right. He’s left with a tricky chip shot over the bunker.
Rory McIlroy finally starts his third round, just the five hours and a bit after he was due to tee off at Quail Hollow. His first drive finds the fairway.
Five pars for Tom McKibbin in his opening five holes. Solid, although a birdie would be nice. He remains at -1.
Starting soon....
6.44: Kim Si-woo, Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler
6.38: Chris Kirk, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele
6.55: Jhonattan Vegas, Matthieu Pavon, Matt Fitzpatrick
Ooooh, Bryson DeChambeau came with a millimetre or two of a birdie at the second, but it crept past on the left. He stays at -4, but Viktor Hovland drops to -2 after a bogey on the fourth.
Bryson DeChambeau has birdied the first from 15 feet so he’s up to -4, in to the top 10 and wearing the look of a man who means business. Mind you, Bryson generally looks that way.
As they oft say in America, Jon Rahm is smokin’ - he’s just birdied the third, having done the same at the first, taking him to -4 for the tournament. Solid starts too for Viktor Hovland and Adam Scott, who are both at -3 after early birdies, and here comes Bryson DeChambeau, he’s up and running with a sweet drive down the first.
Tournament leader Jhonattan Vegas is still, incidentally, playing havoc with our spell-checker, even 17 years in to his professional career. No matter how many times we tell it that it’s not ‘Jonathan’, it still tries to make it so. Advance apologies if said spell-checker has its way at any stage this evening. It still wouldn’t be as catastrophic, though, as the time a Melbourne journalist wrote about court proceedings against General Pinochet - only for the Chilean dictator to be referred to as “Pinocchio” all through his report. Auto-correct? A curse.
Jon Rahm plays the first hole flawlessly and finishes with a birdie - he’s now at -3 after two pretty tepid rounds of 70. And Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald birdies the 10th, from where he’s starting his third round - he’s back up to -2. Paul McGinley reminds us that Donald didn’t miss a single putt from inside 20 feet in his first round. Some going.
And speaking of fuss, here’s an interesting take on why Shane Lowry was so peeved with an ESPN reporter yesterday. Denis Walsh wrote about the incident here.
There’s been a bit of fuss about Rory McIlroy having to change his driver before this tournament after it was tested and deemed to be “non-conforming”. Here’s an explainer:
Wayne Riley has just produced one of the more disturbing moments in the history of golf broadcasting. While discussing the impact of this morning’s rain on the course, he said: “There’s many a way to get mud off a golf ball.” And then he licked it clean. “It was chocolate,” Nick Dougherty tried to reassure us. But we won’t be the better for it for a while.
And we’re off, Joaquin Niemann and Tyrrell Hatton dissecting the fairway from the first, Wyndham Clark’s drive veering right. The sun is shining, hopefully it’ll stay that way.
Just to recap, Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas sits atop the leaderboard on -8, two shots clear of Matthieu Pavon, Matt Fitzpatrick and Si Woo Kim. Max Homa and a certain Scottie Scheffler are a further shot back, with another 10 players on -4. Tom McKibben is just inside the top 40 on -1, but Rory McIlroy has a mountain of work to do - he’s on +1.
Afternoon, will we try again? In case you had the good sense to be out in the sun earlier in the day and missed the news, the third round of the US PGA Championship was severely delayed by iffy weather in the Charlotte area.
So, having been due to get going at 1.15 Irish time, proceedings won’t commence until Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton and Wyndham Clark tee off at 4.43.
Yes, the tee times have been revised into threesomes off split tees on this shortened day, with several players who were due to be among the earlier starters now among the last - including Rory McIlroy.
He and Xander Schauffele were initially pencilled in for a 1.25 start, but now they won’t get going, along with Chris Kirk, until 6.38 (again, Irish time). Plenty of other players are similarly effected, among them Michael Kim. He sounds chuffed.
Go out and get some sun on your cheeks, we’ll see you shortly after 4.0 this afternoon. You’d fear that mud balls might be an issue again.
Here are those revised tee times on a very disrupted Saturday at Quail Hollow. We now have threesomes off split tees from 4.43 to 6.55 (Irish time).
1st Tee
16:43 Joaquin Niemann, Tyrrell Hatton, Wyndham Clark
16:54 Keegan Bradley, Marco Penge, Lucas Glover
17:05 Viktor Hovland, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm
17:16 Cam Davis, Adam Scott, Joe Highsmith
17:27 Tony Finau, Ben Griffin, Eric Cole
17:38 Davis Riley, Alex Noren, Ryo Hisatsune
17:49 Taylor Pendrith, Bryson DeChambeau, Richard Bland
18:00: Garrick Higgo, J.J. Spaun, Aaron Rai
18:11 Sam Stevens, Denny McCarthy, Ryan Gerard
18:22 Alex Smalley, J.T. Poston, Robert MacIntyre
18:33 Michael Thorbjornsen, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Ryan Fox
18:44 Si Woo Kim, Max Homa, Scottie Scheffler
18:55 Jhonattan Vegas, Matthieu Pavon, Matt Fitzpatrick
10th tee
16:48 Rafael Campos, Matt Wallace, Tom McKibbin
16:59 Beau Hossler, Corey Conners, Luke Donald
17:10 Nicolai Hojgaard, Harry Hall, Austin Eckroat
17:21 Byeong Hun An, Collin Morikawa, Cameron Young
17:32 Daniel Berger, Brian Campbell, Taylor Moore
17:43 Nico Echavarria, Harris English, Stephan Jaeger
17:54 Rasmus Højgaard, Thorbjørn Olesen, Maverick McNealy
18:05 Justin Lower, Tom Kim, Sergio Garcia
18:16 Brian Harman, Elvis Smylie, Kevin Yu
18:27 David Puig, Bud Cauley, Michael Kim
18:38 Chris Kirk, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele
18:49 Max Greyserman, Sam Burns
Oh heck, Rory McIlroy won’t now tee off until 6.38pm Irish time, a whole five hours, 13 minutes later than when he was due to start. A day that was already going to be challenging has just got a whole lot tougher.
From PGA TOUR Communications: “Due to dangerous weather still in the area, the third round of the PGA Championship will now feature threesomes off split tees from 11:43 a.m. (4.43 Irish time) - 1:55 p.m. Revised starting times will be released shortly by the PGA of America."
Shot of the day on Friday? This wasn’t a bad effort from Si Woo Kim on the sixth….. the longest hole-in-one in major championship history.
Sky Sports are saying that play won’t get under way for another 90 minutes. That’s the bad news. The good is that it’ll be sunshine all the way thereafter - if a little windy.
While we’re waiting for the storms to pass..... Shane Lowry wasn’t the only big name to have a miserable time of it on Friday, three more of the world’s top 10 ranked players - Justin Thomas, Ludvig Aberg and Sepp Straka - missing the cut. And Jordan Spieth’s hunt for a career grand slam goes on.
How pleased is Rory with the suspension in play, five minutes before he was due to tee off? Not a lot. Let’s just say, he reacted to the klaxon with some industrial language. Wouldn’t you?
We spoke too soon, we have our second suspension. If only they had weather like Ireland.
Practice was briefly suspended at Quail Hollow due to a pesky thunderstorm, but we’re good to go, the thunderstorm has passed.
Max Greyserman and Sam Burns get round three under way at 1.15, and 10 minutes later Rory McIlroy, accompanied by Xander Schauffele again, will attempt to produce one of those rounds for the ages to get himself in to contention. Tom McKibbin tees off at 4.05 alongside England’s Matt Wallace.
A 68 on Friday moved Bryson DeChambeau in to contention, Denis Walsh writing about how “golf’s Elon Musk”, who wasn’t always loved, has changed his image to the point where he has become “relatable”. On Friday morning, “he dragged the biggest galleries around the course”. “Do we love him? We love the act. That’s enough.”
[ It looks like love for Bryson DeChambeau at the US PGAOpens in new window ]
Afternoon everyone, welcome to the Irish Times Golf Blog for round three of the US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow where Jhonattan Vegas remains in pinch-me territory, the Venezuelan two shots clear of Matthieu Pavon, Matt Fitzpatrick and Si Woo Kim on top of the leaderboard.
It’s the first time in his 17-year professional career that Vegas has led a major. Mind you, he might have been another two shots clear only for that double bogey on the 18th, but sure look, that’s golf: coulda, woulda, shoulda.
It was another decidedly tough day at the office for Rory McIlroy who only just made the cut, Denis Walsh looking back on a rollercoaster of a round for the Irish players. Tom McKibbin is safely through but Shane Lowry, Pádraig Harrington and Séamus Power are all heading for home. Ominously, a promising talent you might have heard of has moved up to a share of fifth: Scottie Scheffler.
[ Rory McIlroy fails to catch fire while Jhonattan Vegas maintains lead in US PGAOpens in new window ]
Lowry had an especially frustrating time of it on a course for which he’s never had too much love. “F**k this place,” he roared after he sent his second shot on the 8th hole in to a bunker, the combination of an horrendous lie, after his ball had rolled into a pitch mark, and an ESPN on-course reporter adding to his ire.
[ ‘F**k this place’: Shane Lowry enraged by unfortunate lie at PGA ChampionshipOpens in new window ]
