Saturday, Round 3

NEWTOWN SQUARE, PA

"First, I've never seen anything like this. When we were out there, I think it's just the nature of a lot of different things, but yeah, I've never seen a leaderboard like this, this bunched up. Going into tomorrow, it's quite literally anybody's tournament. There's a lot of guys that have a chance. Going into tomorrow, just somebody is going to have a great round, and I'm going to make sure to do my best to give myself my best shot at being the one who has a great round." - Scottie Scheffler on the PGA Championship.

I think that sums it up. Tomorrow has the possibility to be one of the wildest major championship Sundays we have seen in a long time; maybe ever. A bunched leaderboard, a firm golf course, and summer-like temperatures are all going to test the world's best men as they all make a run at the season's second major championship.

Round 3 summary:

• Leader: -6, Alex Smalley (67-69-68)
  • There are 30 players within FIVE shots of the lead!
• Scoring average:
  • Rd 3: +0.00, Rd 2: +2.61, Rd 1: +2.26
    • Historic Rd 3s - 2025: +1.51, 2024: -1.45, 2023: +2.62, 2022: +2.52, 2021: +1.04)
  • First nine scoring average: -0.30, back nine: +0.30 (+0.60)
  • Morning wave: -0.42, afternoon wave: +0.40 (+0.82)
  • Hardest hole: #12 +0.34, easiest hole: #16 -0.67
  • The Field was even par today with 12 eagles, 303 birdies, 276 bogeys, and 25 double bogeys or worse!
• Strokes gained T2G leaders through three rounds:
  • Ludvig Åberg, Jon Rahm, Joaquin Niemann, Jhonattan Vegas, Chris Kirk, Min Woo Lee, and Maverick McNealy
• Betting favorites after Round 3:
  • Jon Rahm (+470), Alex Smalley (+490), Ludvig Åberg (+610), Rory McIlroy (+770), Xander Schauffele (+1200)
• Conditions: High of 83 degrees, wind blowing 14-16 mph on average coming from SSW, with gusts well into the 20s practically all day.

Observations:

Between the lines...

• Alex Smalley has never held the 54-hole lead of an officially sanctioned OWGR event.
• 14 different players had or shared the lead on Saturday during the third round.
• "And I think as well, we're two days into the tournament, or three days now, and guys are just more -- you learn the course as you go along, and guys are just getting more comfortable with certain clubs off tees or having a better idea of the greens and where to miss and where not to miss. I just think we all, as every day goes on, we just keep learning a little bit more about the golf course and getting a little more comfortable, and that's what you're seeing today." - Rory McIlroy on guys playing better today.
• 67 of the last 68 PGA Champions were inside the top 7 at the start of the final round. Who are they?
  • Alex Smalley, Matti Schmid, Nick Taylor, Jon Rahm, Aaron Rai, Ludvig Åberg, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Reed, and Maverick McNealy
• "No, I feel like whenever it's windy like that, especially when you have greens like this, you have to be creative. You have to play golf. You can't sit there and focus on technique and be a robot. It just doesn't work when you have conditions and greens like this, because there's so many ways to kind of get the ball close to the hole, but a lot of times working it in the slopes or trying to bounce stuff up or things like that around here seems to be a little bit better than trying to fly it to the hole, just because they're so firm, the ball's just going to bounce, and you're always going to be above the hole all day." - Patrick Reed on playing Aronimink.
• 11 of the last 14 PGA Champions came out of the last group. Tee times tomorrow begin at 7:40 am and conclude at 2:35 pm. Alex Smalley and Matti Schmid are in the final group!
• Smalley on the Big Stage: One of the unexpected benefits of a wide-open tournament with a log-jammed leaderboard? Crowd dispersion. Walking around Aronimink all day today, the masses flocked to the superstar pairing of McIlroy and Koepka in the morning. Who to follow in the afternoon was far less clear, but a very slow start from the final pairing of Smalley and McNealy sent crowds elsewhere quickly. That seemingly played perfectly into Smalley's hands, as the atmosphere surrounding his group was nothing like what you would expect for the final pairing of a packed major championship crowd. That will not be the case on Sunday, so it will be fascinating to see how Alex handles all the attention with a 2-stroke lead. (John)
• Any way the Wind Blows: The prevailing narrative this week has been about the hole locations. A course many thought would be too easy and easily overpowered by bombers has instead held up like a U.S. Open venue. After walking with Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Young, and Justin Thomas today, the holes were the least of their worries. It was calculating the wind that gave them fits. It's not that the gusts were severe; it's the swirling direction, intermittent gusts, and inconsistency of wind at different elevations that gave players so much trouble hitting their approaches. Sunday should be the calmest day at Aronimink we have seen all week. If that's the case, a score lower than 65 will definitely be out there for one of these elite contenders. (John)

Live Betting - PGA Championship

Sunday card: J. Rose over J. Niemann (-120 FD) S. Burns over B. Koepka (+110 DK) C. Gotterup over H. Matsuyama (-110 FD)

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