Anyone who thinks golf is boring to watch, wasn’t watching the PGA Championship on Saturday afternoon.
Ryan Palmer, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy were all tied for the lead for a time. Phil Mickelson arose from the dead and was hitting precision iron shots. Bernd Weisberger came from nowhere and found himself in the lead in a major championship.
McIlroy was splitting the middle of the fairway with 340-yard drives. Fowler hit driver and then a seven-iron to the 545-yard par-5 18th hole and just missed his eagle putt. So many iron shots left tap-in putts that I lost count of who actually hit them.
As the leaders finished their rounds on Saturday, each player did something special that drew roars from the assembled golf fans and sent sound waves echoing through valleys at Valhalla.
McIlroy began the third round with a two-shot lead over Jason Day. He turned the front nine in one-under-par and birdied three of his final four holes to post a back nine of three-under-par. The combined four-under-par 67 gives him a one-shot lead over Weisberger after 54 holes.
One of the most surprising rounds of the day was authored by the European Tour’s Bernd Weisberger. He posted two birdies on his first nine holes and four birdies on his second nine. Three of his birdies came consecutively at Nos. 16-18 for a six-under-par 65. He is at 12-under-par for the tournament and just one shot behind McIlroy, in just the second major championship of his career.
Rickie Fowler has finished inside the top-5 in all three major championships in 2014 and is continuing the trend at the PGA Championship. Fowler’s four-under-par 67 puts him alone in third place and he will be paired with Mickelson in the penultimate group on Sunday.
Whatever Butch Harmon is doing for Fowler, it is working. I wonder how many majors Tiger Woods would have now if he had not switched away from Harmon?
Mickelson got the party started with two birdies on his front nine, but erased the red numbers with two consecutive bogeys at Nos. 11 and 12. He shifted to a higher gear and finished with four birdies over his final five holes for a four-under-par 67.
His eagle putt at the last hole refused to drop and he finished the day at 10-under-par for the tournament and in the mix for Sunday’s final round.
Louis Oosthuizen fired his second consecutive 67 to finish at nine-under-par. He is tied for fifth with Henrik Stenson, Mikko Ilonen, Ryan Palmer and Jason Day.
Rains overnight and Saturday morning made the conditions very favorable for low scoring on a very difficult Valhalla Golf Club. Soft fairways kept the ball from running into the rough and receptive greens allowed the players to fire darts at the pins.
With 12 players within four shots of the leader, the final 18 holes on Sunday should provide excitement aplenty for even the casual golf fan.