Springfield (United States) (AFP) – Top-ranked defending champion Jason Day and fellow major winners Henrik Stenson and Martin Kaymer were set to chase down the unheralded American co-leaders in Saturday’s third round of the PGA Championship.
Robert Streb matched the all-time major low-round record with a seven-under-par 63 Friday at rain-softened Baltusrol, where storms were forecast in the late afternoon for the lead groups.
That left him alongside US compatriot Jimmy Walker on nine-under 131 after 36 holes at the year’s final major tournament with Day and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo sharing second two strokes off the pace.
Sweden’s Stenson, coming off his first major title two weeks ago at the British Open, was fifth on 134 with Germany’s Kaymer, the 2010 PGA Championship and 2014 US Open winner, another stroke back with Americans Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed.
Day was hopeful the leaders, neither on form coming into the week, might feel extra pressure from the footsteps of major winners chasing them from behind.
“That would be nice,” Day said. “When guys are going to play good, they are going to play good. Doesn’t matter who you are. These guys are all good out here. They deserve the right to be here because of how they played. Anyone on any given week can play well.”
But Day has stressed to himself to be patient around Baltusrol, which offers two par-5 holes at the finish, neither of which he has managed to birdie despite his impressive run of seven birdies in eight holes on Friday.
“For me to be able to keep putting myself on the top of the leaderboard, more so now than the last few weeks, has definitely helped a little bit,” Day said. “But I’ve just got to kind of inch my way slowly.
“Obviously I don’t want to give the guys at the top some shots when I’m making silly errors. So I just try to inch my way back into the tournament that way.”
– ‘It’s golf’ –
Streb, who missed the cut at the year’s first three majors, has not managed a top-10 finish in a US PGA event since his share of 10th at last year’s PGA Championship — 27 events of mounting frustration that could end this weekend with him hoisting the Wanamaker Trophy.
“I’ll probably try to not get caught up in what everyone else is doing,” Streb said of the big names near the top.
“Sometimes playing with those guys, you get caught watching them. I’ll just try to stick to what I’m doing and see if I can do a little better. The weekend at the PGA last year was good, so hopefully I can do a little better than that.”
Walker won three events in 2014 and twice last year, but has not taken a title this season. He counts on experience to see him through nervous times.
“It’s golf. It’s what we do every week,” Walker said. “I’ve won before. I’ve won a few times. I’ve won different ways.
“I feel like I’ve done a lot in golf so this is one more little thing here that I haven’t really experienced before. I’m sure I’ll be just fine.”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.