Watching day three at the 97th PGA Championship was about as much fun as any golf fan could take. The day was marked by big names, spectacular shots, creative play, great bounce backs and a level of drama that only happens at the majors.
The tone was set early when players out early put up plenty of red numbers. And when the leaders hit Whistling Straits they did as Ben Hogan once said and ”brought this monster to its knees.”
When the smoke cleared we were left with a superb leaderboard filled with fantastic players and great stories. Simply put it: it was really fun to watch.
Jason Day fought his way to the top of the leaderboard with a stellar 66 marred by a double bogey on fifteen and a horrid greenside lie on sixteen. His approach was buried so deep in the rough just inches off the green he couldn’t manage to get it up and down and his par felt like a bogey. Even with that he has a two shot lead on Jordan Spieth and is poised once again to win his first major.
Jordan Spieth aka The Golden Child certainly used his Midas touch once he made the turn. His putter finally got hot on the eleventh and he ripped off three straight birdies. He kept it up with another triple to close out his back nine in 30 and card a very impressive 65. His final, dramatic birdie at eighteen was greeted by cheers from the very pro-Spieth crowd.
South African Branden Grace set the pace for the day with his sizzling 64 to climb twelve places and finish in a tie for third at -12. Grace played a near perfect, bogey free round and eight under on moving day at a major will certainly get you noticed.
Normally a 68 on Saturday of a major would be considered superb but with the plethora of low scores Justin Rose’s 68 seems mediocre. He started the day T3 and finished in the same spot. A tough bogey on eighteen left him a shot short of tying Spieth for second but Rose has a major in his pocket and that should serve him well as he tries to get numbed two.
Martin Kaymer started the third round at four under par and in fifteenth place. He finished the day at -11 and in fifth just four strokes off the lead. A bogey free 65 goes a long way on moving day and move he did. He’s the defending champion at Whistling Straights (kind of) and with two major wins he’s a force to reckon with.
Twenty five year old Tony Finau was low American for most of the day until Spieth turned on his jets. Finau was five under par and on pace for a serious 65 until he felt the pressure of the spotlight and bogeyed his last two holes. Still, the Big Break Disney runner up is T6 at the PGA Championship and teeing off late on Sunday. Now that’s not bad for a PGA Tour rookie.
Matt Jones started with the lead today and things looked good with two birds in his first six holes. But as he was treading water in the middle of his round the field caught him. When he stumbled, losing four strokes to par in three holes from fifteen to seventeen he tumbled down the leaderboard. Even with that Jones displayed a likable, carefree attitude even in his toughest times. He was able to laugh off his poor shots and looked like he was even having fun. Especially when he was hitting it off the carpet of a corporate chalet on the ninth hole. And he plays fast. Now that’s a guy you can cheer for.
And that was the underlying tone of moving day at Whistling Straits. All these guys and plenty more, are easy to cheer for and fun to watch. Notice there was no Tiger or Phil on top of the leaderboard and we still had a scintillating day of golf.
It was fun and these are some of the guys that can carry this game. And tomorrow should give us more of the same.
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