Key events
Divot? No problem. Scottie Scheffler sends a high fade into 18 from 165 yards, landing his ball pin high, 15 feet from the pin. Another birdie opportunity, and whether he makes the putt or not, what a closing stretch this has been from the world number one. He’s made the Green Mile look like a stroll in the park.
Back on 17, Jhonattan Vegas’s tee shot only just hangs on to the back-left portion of the green. A few more joules of energy and that was scampering into the drink. He’s left with a 70-foot putt that he rolls up to kick-in distance. Matt Fitzpatrick gets up and down from the swale front right for his par, too. But Matthieu Pavon can’t make a similar escape, leaving a Texas wedge from the bottom of the bank well short, and that’s consecutive bogeys for the French star. Meanwhile Rory McIlroy is in the hutch with a 72. He ends the day at +2. Exactly the same applies to the defending champion Xander Schauffele.
Scottie Scheffler belts his drive down the 18th fairway. His ball ends up in a shallow divot, but that shouldn’t be a huge problem for him. He’s in the zone, having made two birdies and an eagle in three of the last four holes, and come very close to birdie on the other. A feeling of mellow satisfaction as he strolls up to his ball.
A careless three-putt bogey for Matthieu Pavon on 16. Having found the green in two, he leaves a 75-foot putt 15 feet short. He slips back to -7 as a result. Meanwhile that’s where local lad JT Poston ends up, after draining a 30-footer across 18 for his second 68 of the week. And on 17, Scottie Scheffler is never missing his birdie putt. All of a sudden, he’s just the second man to get to double figures this week, after Jhonattan Vegas, and his lead is two!
-10: Scheffler (17)
-8: Noren (F)
-7: Riley (F), Poston (F), Kim (17), Vegas (16), Pavon (16)
-6: Rahm (F)
-5: Bradley (F), Finau (F), DeChambeau (F), Fitzpatrick (16)
Scottie Scheffler is in total control of his game right now. A 7-iron pinged into 17. Pin high. He’ll have a ten-foot look at birdie. Meanwhile back on 16, what a response to a potential unravel from Jhonattan Vegas! A wedge crisply sent from 66 yards to a couple of feet! He’ll surely salvage an unlikely par, and keep his title hopes on track.
Jhonattan Vegas is struggling a bit now. A tee shot at 16 sent into sand down the left; an 8-iron mishit and left well short of the green. After bogey on a hole that’s been coughing up birdies, he’s now making a meal of the first section of the Green Mile. He’s in danger of undoing an awful lot of good work.
Rory McIlroy has been the surprising non-event this week. He sends his tee shot into the water to the right of the 7th, but ends up saving his par by raking home a 50-foot tramliner. The crowd whoop and holler, but McIlroy isn’t of a mind to celebrate. He remains at +2, and with the weather set fair tomorrow, he’ll most definitely be going out early doors for the final round.
Scottie Scheffler takes full advantage of the bounce that kept him out of the fairway bunker at 16. He caresses his second from 194 yards to 12 feet. Not quite up there with Jon Rahm’s approach earlier, but that’s an absurdly high bar to set. It’s still one hell of an approach. But he can’t read the right-to-left swinger, and he drops his gaze to the floor in mild annoyance at the birdie that could have been. A no-nonsense four at the start of the Green Mile, though. He remains one clear of Alex Noren and Matthieu Pavon at -9.
Vegas does pretty well to whip his chip at 15 gently onto the green, letting it roll out to ten feet. Pin high, but well to the left, about the best he could do. He can’t make the par putt and drops back to -7. Meanwhile heading the other way, back on 15, Matthieu Pavon chips to six feet and should make the straight putt … which he does, though it requires his ball to take two journeys around the rim before dropping. He’s -8.
Jhonattan Vegas takes his penalty drop by the water down the left of 15 … then flies his third over the green and into thick rough down a bank at the back. With the green sloping dramatically away from him, he’ll have a heck of a job getting up and down to salvage his par.
Scottie Scheffler peers after his drive at 16 with a little anxiety. Is it heading for the bunker to the right of the fairway? Yes. Hold on. Maybe. No! The ball pings off the left-hand corner of the shoulder, and bounds down the fairway into prime position. He’s now had a couple of handy bounces today – the tee shot coming back out of the trees at 8 the most spectacular – but even world number ones need a bit of good fortune to get things done at a major championship. He smiles wryly, knowing he got away with one there.
Kim Si-woo chips up from the same swale on 15 as Scottie Scheffler before him. He nearly holes out for eagle, but that’s enough for birdie. He moves to -7 … but he’s still two off the lead, because seconds later Scheffler tidies up to go clear at the top. The leaderboard has been a glorious nonsense all afternoon, but now the world number one is imposing some order.
-9: Scheffler (15)
-8: Noren (F), Vegas (14)
-7: Riley (F), Kim (15), Pavon (14)
-6: Rahm (F), Poston (16)
-5: Bradley (F), Finau (F), DeChambeau (F), Thorbjornsen (15)
… so having just given Jhonattan Vegas his dues for that consistent run of golf, the new co-leader hooks into the drink down the left of the par-five 15th. Up by the green, Scottie Scheffler chips up from the swale to the front-right. He’s left himself a four-and-a-half footer for birdie and sole ownership of the lead.
Matt Fitzpatrick makes his bogey putt, so that’s a little damage limitation. But the 14th is a hole where birdie is expected, and eagle far from a pipe dream. He’s given up a couple to the field there, and slips back to -4. Birdie for his playing partner Jhonattan Vegas, though, and the Venezuelan reclaims a share of the lead! The least he deserves for once again steadying himself after some early travails: since that bogey-bogey start, he’s not dropped a stroke and has now made his second birdie. A shot also picked up by the third member of the final group, Mattieu Pavon, who has also turned things around nicely after that egregious yip on 9, with birdies at 10 and now 14.
-8: Noren (F), Scheffler (14), Vegas (14)
-7: Riley (F), Pavon (14)
Bryson DeChambeau makes his par putt at 18. He signs for a 69 that promised to be so much better. He was blemish free until powering a short par putt through the line on 16. Then the watery tee shot at 17. How quickly things can go south. See also: Matt Fitzpatrick, who sends his tee shot at the generous par-four 14th onto the high bank to the right of the green. Worried about the water on the other side, he fluffs his first chip, then blades his second through the green. The fringe stops the ball dropping into the drink, but the chip coming back stops six feet short, and suddenly he’s staring a double-bogey six in the face.
DeChambeau gathers himself and flips a wedge from 30 yards to two-and-a-half feet. He should get out of Dodge with par, but the Green Mile has taken a chunk out of him, and his mood is pretty dark at the moment. From leading this race, he’s right back in the peloton.
It’s unravelling a bit for Bryson, coming off the back of that double bogey. His drive at 18 finds a bunker to the right of the fairway, and he can’t reach in two. He waves his arms about in frustration. Those jubilant scenes greenside at 15 seem an awfully long time ago now. It was 40-odd minutes. But that’s golf.
Scottie Scheffler mops up what’s left on 14. Eagle, and an appropriate time to have a proper look at the beautiful ruins of the leaderboard in the wake of that manic last half-hour!
-8: Noren (F), Scheffler (14)
-7: Riley (F), Vegas (13)
-6: Rahm (F), Kim (14), Poston (15), Fitzpatrick (13), Pavon (13)
-5: Bradley (F), Finau (F), DeChambeau (17), Thorbjornsen (14)
Noren posts 66; Riley 67
Bryson can’t make the long bogey putt on 17, which breaks apologetically to the left. He tidies up for double before trudging off in a morose manner. He’s -5, and suddenly well off the lead, because up on 18, Alex Noren steers a 16-foot right-to-left curler into the cup for a fourth birdie in the last five holes! He’s now the sole leader of the PGA Championship, after a late-blooming round of 66! His partner Davis Riley gets up and down from greenside sand for a par and an (almost) equally impressive 67.
-8: Noren (F)
-7: Riley (F), Vegas (13)
The 13th hole was much kinder to Scottie’s playing partner Kim Si-woo, who clipped his tee shot to 11 feet before guiding in the left-to-right swinger for birdie. He’s -6. Then they move on to the driveable 14th … and Scheffler gently draws his tee shot from 305 yards to two feet and nine inches! A chance to instantly repair the damage of the previous hole, and then some!
Scheffler makes the putt coming back, but that’s a second bogey in three holes. Admittedly sandwiching a birdie, but the world number one is getting a little scrappy at the wrong time. Meanwhile from the drop-zone at 17, DeChambeau finds the green, but he’ll need to sink a 25-footer just to limit the damage to bogey.
Disaster for Bryson DeChambeau on 17. He whacks a high draw into the green at the par-three … but there’s too much right-to-left action. And too much right-to-left wind. With the ball in mid-air, he holds his arms out wide, palms wide open, as if to ask: what’s happening here?! What’s happening is, his ball clanking off the wall surrounding the left of the green and into the drink. Meanwhile back on 13, Scottie Scheffler is nowhere close with his splash out of sand. He can’t make the 22-footer, and leaves himself a six-footer coming back. The wheels suddenly threatening to come off the Big Two bandwagon here. I probably shouldn’t have mentioned that potential final-day mano a mano showdown. Sorry Bryson. Apologies Scottie.
For the second time in four holes, Bryson DeChambeau powers a short putt through the break. It cost him a birdie on 13; this time it’s cost him a shot on 16. There goes sole ownership of his lead. He’s back to -7 … and now alongside Alex Noren, who swishes his tee shot at 17 to eight feet and walks in the birdie putt! Everything changing at pace, with 13 players within two shots of the lead. A typically hectic PGA Championship.
-7: Noren (17), DeChambeau (16), Riley (16), Scheffler (12), Vegas (12)
-6: Rahm (F), Fitzpatrick (12), Pavon (12)
-5: Bradley (F), Finau (17), Higgo (15), Poston (14), Kim (12)
Bryson DeChambeau gets himself out of position on 16, sending his tee shot into the rough down the right. He can’t generate any spin with his second, which nearly topples off the green to the left without ever threatening to scamper into the water. Meanwhile back on the par-three 13th, Scottie Scheffler dunks his tee shot in a bunker guarding the front of the green. Perhaps that final pairing showdown will be Riley v Vegas after all?
Bounce-back birdie for Scottie Scheffler! He wedges straight at a pin on 12 tucked away dangerously back-left of the green, sand to the side, and gets the reward for his aggressive play. A nine-foot birdie chance that he tickles straight into the cup. And with the greatest of respect to everyone else at the top of this quality-drenched leaderboard … a fair few people will be salivating at the prospect of a Bryson v Scottie showdown in the final pairing tomorrow. A long road to travel before we can contemplate that, of course.
-8: DeChambeau (15)
-7: Riley (16), Scheffler (12), Vegas (11)
-6: Rahm (F), Noren (16), Fitzpatrick (11)
Rahm shoots 67
Jon Rahm plays the hardest hole on the course – the 18th – without any fuss. He’s a bit disappointed that his second shot didn’t bite and spin back to realistic birdie range, but this is a hole on which 39 double bogeys (or worse) have been made this week. So par is not to be sniffed at. He’s the new clubhouse leader at -6, having made a significant move today.
Bryson is a people-pleaser all right. Having sent his tee shot at the par-five 15th into thick rough down the right of the hole, he lashes a 5-wood from the thick stuff, and he’s inches away from clearing the bunker at the front of the green and finding the dancefloor. His ball slams into the sand, but that doesn’t stop the gallery spluttering variants of “Is there anybody else who could do that?!” in the possibly lubricated style. He then nearly holes out from the sand for eagle, before walking in the four-footer he leaves himself and waving his hands in the air to get the punters roaring. That’s his fifth birdie of the day, without blemish. The man’s box-office. The man’s in the lead!
-8: DeChambeau (15)
-7: Riley (15), Vegas (11)
The 2011 champion Keegan Bradley makes a rare birdie on 18 and signs for a 68! The US Ryder Cup captain is the early clubhouse leader at -5. He won’t be far off by the end of play tonight. Meanwhile birdie at last today for Matt Fitzpatrick, at 10, and for his playing partner Matthieu Pavon. They’re back in the picture again. And what a picture! Flash, bang, wallop what a leaderboard.
-7: Riley (15), DeChambeau (14), Vegas (10)
-6: Rahm (17), Noren (15), Scheffler (11), Fitzpatrick (10), Pavon (10)
-5: Bradley (F), Highsmith (16), Finau (16), Poston (12), Thorbjornsen (11), Kim, (11)
Davis Riley suffers a horrible break, his second into 15 landing on the fringe before taking a 90-degree spring into the bunker on the left. But he gets up and down for birdie and a share of the lead. Meanwhile Kim Si-woo chunks a chip from the deep rough at the back of 11, and the resulting bogey takes him back to -5. And it’s bogey for Scottie Scheffler, who can’t make his putt from the fringe at the back of 11.
Scottie Scheffler gets loose on 11. A tee shot that drifts into the rough down the left. A second short of the green. Then a hot chip that races past the cup and nearly topples off the back. Work on here to salvage par and retain a share of the lead. At the moment, Bryson DeChambeau – blemish-free today so far – looks the player most in control of his game.
Having hit the lead for the first time this week, Jon Rahm immediately drops back into the pack. A weak tee shot into the par-three 17th topples down the valley to the right of the green. He can’t get up and down and he’s back to -6. Elsewhere, Alex Noren holes out from a bunker on 15 and suddenly, having also birdied 14, the Swede is back in the mix! He’s -6 too.
Kim Si-woo sends his second at the par-five 10th, driver off the deck, just through the back. But those Arnold Palmer stylings aren’t good enough for birdie. Par a disappointing outcome. See also his partner Scottie Scheffler, who chips up from the swale at the front to six feet, but uncharacteristically pulls the short putt. And so up on 14, Bryson DeChambeau joins the party with birdie, wedging from 80 feet to seven and stroking in the putt. Look at this leaderboard: the cream has risen to the top.
-7: Rahm (16), DeChambeau (14), Scheffler (10), Vegas (9)
-6: Riley (14), Kim (9)
-5: Highsmith (15), Finau (15), Noren (14), Poston (11), Fox (10), Thorbjornsen (10), Fitzpatrick (9), Pavon (9)
Some admin, upon the publication of that latest updated leaderboard. There’s no Matthieu Pavon on it; a yip from three feet on 9 cost the 32-year-old from Toulouse a bogey. He turns in 36 and drops to -5. His spot at -6 is taken by Davis Riley, who has birdied 8, 9 and now 14. Barring a top-15 finish at the 2022 PGA, the 28-year-old from Mississippi doesn’t have much of a record in the majors yet … but he did tie for 21st at Augusta last month, so he’s clearly found some form in time for major season.
The hardest holes on the course this week? The Green Mile: 18, then 17, then 16. Jon Rahm’s coming down the third most treacherous, the 535-yard par-four 16th, and proceeds to make mincemeat of it. A drive crashed 364 yards down the track onto prime real estate, then an iron arrowed with laser precision straight at the flag, to two-and-a-half feet. This hole is averaging 4.324 this week, so he’s just gained nearly a shot-and-a-half on the field. A third birdie on the bounce, and he’s hit the top of the leaderboard for the first time this week. A PGA Championship to go with his Masters jacket and US Open title? He’ll be going for that career slam at Portrush at this rate!
-7: Rahm (16), Scheffler (9), Vegas (9)
-6: Riley (14), DeChambeau (13), Kim (9)
Bryson DeChambeau becomes the latest player to turn down a chance of the lead. He caresses a glorious iron into the par-three 13th, only to hammer his birdie putt through the gentle right-to-left break. It horseshoes out to three feet. He spends a long time over the par putt. Time well spent. He remains at -6.
Cam Davis hung around the top of the leaderboard on Thursday and Friday, before dropping down the standings. Seemingly out of it at +1, he’s just revived his bid in outrageous circumstances. Birdie at 13, another at 14, and then a wedge at 15 from 60 yards that lands just to the left of the cup, taking a little skip to the right before disappearing into the hole like a mouse being chased by a cat. Eagle, and suddenly the 30-year-old from Sydney has reinserted himself back into the story! He’s -3.
Scottie Scheffler finds the monster par-four 9th (527 yards!) in two, and his birdie putt from 22 feet shaves the lip. Par, but that’s beyond Kim Si-woo, whose wild drive into trees down the left, and whose second sliced into trees down the right, leads to an almost inevitable bogey. There goes his share of the lead. A dropped shot for Max Homa, too, as he yips a short one.
“Jhonny be good!” A member of the gallery channels his inner Chuck Berry as Vegas goes for his eagle on 8. The putt’s never going in … but he’s left himself a two-footer for birdie and sole leadership of the tournament again. But he stabs with great uncertainty at the ball, shoving it right, and that’s a big miss. He remains at -7. Meanwhile Jon Rahm closes in on him with another birdie, this time at the par-five 15th. He’s a shot off at -6.
Two groups before Vegas came down 8, Ryan Fox enjoyed one of the big breaks at the hole. He carved his tee shot into the bunker on the right, only for the ball to slap against the face and spring out at a right angle, rolling out to 30 feet. Two putts later, it was his second birdie in as many holes … but he’s just handed one of those strokes straight back to the field at 9. The 38-year-old Kiwi turns in 34 at -5.
Bryson DeChambeau belts a 366-yard drive down the 12th … then under-hits his wedge from 95 yards. He gives it way too much air, and it doesn’t make the top tier of the green, where the flag resides. The ball topples back down the green and he’s left with a difficult two putts from 50 feet, over a ridge, with the downwind creating all sorts of havoc. Meanwhile back on the short par-four 8th, Jhonattan Vegas, who has suddenly rediscovered his mojo, drives the green and sets up a 25-footer for eagle. Movement ahoy!
Scottie Scheffler has the good grace to look slightly embarrassed at where his ball has ended up after that wild drive on 8. But he soon gets his gameface back on. A chip up to ten feet leaves a straight birdie putt … but he lets it drift to the right and now he’s looking a little bit miffed. In fairness, birdie there would have been an egregious nonsense. But then again that’s golf. Par probably about right in the great scheme of things.
Jhonattan Vegas’s round is beginning to take a similar shape to yesterday’s. He started that one in skittish fashion, only to pull himself together as the round went on, and the same appears to be happening today. Having steadied the ship after those two opening bogeys with a run of four pars, he’s now found the back of the par-five 8th in two. A chip and a putt, and the Venezuelan veteran has a share of the lead again! Birdie too for his playing partner Matthieu Pavon, who repairs the damage of the previous hole.
-7: Kim (7), Scheffler (7), Vegas (7)
-6: DeChambeau (11), Fox (8), Pavon (7)
-5: Rahm (14), Hisatsune (12), Riley (12), Poston (9), Fitzpatrick (7)
A huge break for Scottie Scheffler at 8. Possibly a little bit het-up at having to wait so long on the tee, he carves a hysterical drive into the woods to the right of the hole. That ball’s surely a goner … but it connects flush with a thick branch, and rebounds back into play, sitting up nicely in the apron! Yes, yes, the more you practice, the luckier you get, but there are limits.
Jon Rahm becomes the latest to go close with his tee shot at the short par-four 14th. From 305 yards to nine feet. The eagle putt that remains has a gentle left-to-right drift, but he gets a tad too aggressive and plays through the break. A tap-in for birdie isn’t to be sniffed at, though. He’s -5 again.
A lot of hanging around. It’s gonna be a slow one.
