CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After a round of 1-over 72, Kevin Kisner takes a one-shot lead over Hideki Matsuyama and Chris Stroud into the final round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Here’s where things stand through 54 holes at the year’s final major:
Leaderboard: Kevin Kisner (-7), Chris Stroud (-6), Hideki Matsuyama (-6), Justin Thomas (-5), Louis Oostuizen (-5), Grayson Murray (-3)
What it means: Kisner is 18 holes from his third PGA Tour victory and his first major title. The 25th-ranked player in the world made a name for himself on Tour in 2015 when he lost three different playoffs, including one to Rickie Fowler at The Players, before cashing in for first his victory later that year at the RSM Classic. He followed with his second win earlier this year at Colonial and is now trying solidify himself as a major champion. Kisner reached 10 under par before dumping his ball in the water on 16 and nearly doing it again on 18, where a well-placed bridge saved his outright lead. One back, world No. 2 Matsuyama (73) carries the weight of a nation on his shoulders as he seeks to become the first Japanese player to win a major. Stroud, on the other hand, started the week a far more unlikely contender. He was the last man to make the field after winning last week’s PGA Tour opposite-field event, the Barracuda Championship, for his first victory in 290 career starts.
PGA Championship: Scores | Live blog: Day 3 | Full coverage
Biggest disappointment: Two back to start the day, Day fell as many as six behind before rallying back with three straight birdies at Nos. 13, 14, and 15. Then he collapsed. He bogeyed the par-3 17th as a prelude to a quadruple bogey-8 at the home hole via an adventure in the right trees. The quad capped off a round of 6-over 77. He’ll start Sunday seven back. Worth a separate note, Stroud was 8 under with two holes to play before a bogey-bogey finish.
Round of the day: J.B. Holmes and Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira both moved up 50 spots into a tie for 20th at 1 over par thanks to matching rounds of 67.
Best of the rest: Graham DeLaet played a four-hole stretch, from Nos. 13-16, in 6 under par with back-to-back eagles on the middle holes. His Saturday 68 jumped him into a tie for 10th at 2 under par.
Shot of the day: DeLaet very nearly made the second hole-in-one on a par-4 in PGA Tour history when his tee shot from approximately 301 yards lipped out.
That looked so good, for so long … #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/fTiZ0RLjrL
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) August 12, 2017
Quote of the day: “The PGA Championship, I think, is going to be the toughest for me. If we look historically back on my career, I think I will play this tournament worse than the other three majors just in the way that it’s set up. I feel like my game truly suits the other three majors maybe more than the PGA Championship. But I believe we can play anywhere and we can win anywhere. It’s just a matter of having everything in sync at the right time.” – Jordan Spieth, who after an even-par 71 in 3 over for the championship
Source: Internet
