Big guns prepare for battle in second Major

Blue, blue skies greeted the players at Aronimink GC in Pennsylvania, USA for the third round of the 108th PGA Championship (14-17 May) and that led to some incredibly good scoring.  ‘Moving day’ is what the golfers call the Saturday.  And it certainly was a great moving day, in all respects.

 

An American by the name of Alex Smalley seized the lead after three rounds in the second Major of the season with a tally of 204 (6-under par).  The 29-year old from Rochester, New York kicked-off with three bogeys within the first few holes and then settled down with a birdie at the 7th.  On the back nine Smalley really let loose shooting five birdies and one bogey to score a delightful round of 68 to take the lead by two strokes.

 

Interestingly on Saturday all the top nine moved-up the leaderboard.  German Matti Schmid and Canada’s Nick Taylor shot-up 28 places with rounds of 65 to take a share of second place with Spain’s Jon Rahm and Englishman Aaron Rai who both delighted in climbing 14 places higher with 67’s.  And what about Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele who both shot rounds of 66 to soar 23 places higher!

 

 

In fact, Masters Champion McIlroy managed to recover from a poor opening round of 74, to shoot a 67 in round two.  An early start saw the player from Northern Ireland settle down to an impressive round three with six birdies and two bogeys for a 4-under par 66.  Incredibly, McIlroy began with a birdie and after 15 holes he ended-up sharing the lead with Max Greyserman (USA) and Maverick McNealy (USA).  Alas, a bogey at the par-3 17th saw McIlroy finish in a share of 7th place with three Americans Xander Schauffele, Patrick Reed and Maverick McNealy on 3-under.

 

Englishman Aaron Rai shot a level par 70 on day one which he followed by a 69 and then a 67.  Indeed, the 31-year old from Wolverhampton snatched the lead at one point when a birdie putt got him to 5-under.  It is interesting to realise that only one Englishman has ever one the PGA Championship and that was a long, long time ago.  Jim Barnes had that honour way back in 1916 and 1919 when the event was played as matchplay.

 

Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan had a spectacular day yesterday too when he carded two eagles.  The 28-year old eagled the 13th and 16th holes on his way to a super low round of 65.

 

Day one joint leader Aldrich Potgieter even birdied the second hole on day three to take a share of the lead once again.  In fact, the player from South Africa is very keen to stay in the picture in the PGA Championship.

 

Here is Potgieter’s rise to fame

 

The leaderboard of the second Major of the season was looking pretty awesome after day one with seven players with a share of the lead on 67.  So how were the unknowns such as South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter and Germany’s Stephan Jaeger doing on day two?  Rather well, actually.  Indeed, Potgieter even scored a level par round of 70 to stay in a tie for second place.  But where are the big names in golf, I hear you ask.  Never fear, dear golfer, they are patiently waiting in the wings just about to pounce.

 

Aldrich Potgieter kept the momentum in his game whereby he birdied the 9th to claim the outright lead in the PGA.  Australian Jason Day got-off to a thrilling start to claim third spot on 3-under par after seven holes.

 

Potgieter, the 21-year old from Pretoria, went on to make a tremendous par on the 13th after he played his ball left precariously close to the out of bounds.  He holed a lengthy putt to save his par and stay the outright leader on 5-under.  Amazing!

 

American Alex Smalley shared the lead on day one and he played another great round at Aronimink on day two where he shot a one-under par 69 to stay in number one spot.  Another American joined him: Maverick McNealy.  He scored an opening round of one-under par which he followed with a 67 to join Smalley in pole position.

 

Bye, bye to half the field

 

However, day two is a make or break scenario because half the field head for home if they miss the half-way cut.  Early on the cut was estimated at 4-over par.  And it actually came at 74 meaning that players such as Luke Donald (England), Shane Lowry (Ireland) and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa) just survived with 79 others to play at the weekend.  Thirteen players missed the cut by one including English players Andy Sullivan and Tyrrell Hatton.

 

World Number One

 

The World Number One golfer Scottie Scheffler (USA) had a disappointing day on Friday with so many missed putts that bumped his score to a one-over par 71 and a tally of 2-under for a share of 9th place.  Day three showed little improvement for Scheffler with another 71 to slip-down to a share of 23rd spot with among others three time PGA winner Brooks Koepka.

 

Shortly the players will tee-off in the final round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink.  Who will win?  That is the big question.  Will it be one of the Major favourites of the last few years?  Or will a new name be blessed with the Wanamaker Trophy like Englishman Aaron Rai?  Enjoy the mystery puzzle!

 

 

Wendy Hoad

Editor

 

MAIN PHOTOGRAPH:  Englishman Aaron Rai in deep concentration with his caddie in the PGA Championship.  MINIS (l-r):  Ludvig Aberg, Shane Lowry, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.