Saturday At The PGA: Mito Leads, Tiger WD's And The Par-3's Sting
Saturday At The PGA: Mito Leads, Tiger WD's And The Par-3's Sting
Pereira takes 3-stroke lead into Sunday. Plus, a bunch of notes on the 6th and 17th holes, a Sage Steele update, Hickok's epic bogey, ESPN's strong ratings and Nicklaus Companies sues Nicklaus.
Let’s try out some scintillating headlines.
PGA Tour rookie holds his first-ever lead in The Show And It’s Major!
World No. 100 The First Since A Younger, Slimmer John Daly To Lead PGA After 54.
Fitzpatrick To Join Pereira In The Final Pairing We All Saw Coming.
Pereira Looks To Be First Since Danny Willett Earn First Tour Win In A Major.
Top Four In The PGA Championship Have No Official Wins.
Tiger WD’s After Saturday 79; Nicklaus Sued By Nicklaus, Someone Named Mito Leads.
Since I’m sounding increasingly bitter, we’ll cut it off there and leave it to the headline makers to spin a peculiar, chilly day at Southern Hills where the temperature might have reached 60 degrees for a few minutes. Several big names were taken out by north winds and greens still firm enough even after a 1/2 inch of early morning rain.
But all credit to the yutes with no official wins: Mito Pereira of Chile holds a three-stroke lead over Matt Fitzpatrick and Will Zalatoris heading into the final round.
“It's by far the biggest tournament I played, the biggest round of golf and tomorrow is going to be even bigger,” the 27-year-old Pereira said. “I just try to keep it simple, try to do the same things that I've been doing, try to not even look at the people that's around me.”
After a 73, Zalatoris made no excuses but did reinforce how tough things got during play.
“I really did a poor job of leaving myself above the hole pretty much all day,” the 36-hole leader said. “Having to hit putts soft and outside the hole and playing with crosswinds on top of that, like on 9, we just honestly just caught a horrendous gust and just didn't even have a chance halfway through. That ball flew probably a cup and a half off the line.
“So it was hard but I'm proud of the way I hung in there and fought hard all day. I thought I would have some nice momentum going into tomorrow.”
Before we get to fun stuff about the difficult Par-3’s, the drivable 17th hole, a Hickok you have to see, a Sage Steele update, strong first round ratings for ESPN and a couple of beauties heading to court, some notes:
Webb Simpson posts a 65 when the third-round field averaged 72.519. Simpson started the day in a tie for 64th.
Third-round leaders/co-leaders are 14 of 21 since 2000, including Phil Mickelson last year.
The largest comeback by a PGA winner after 54 holes: John Mahaffey from seven back in 1978.
Only two players have posted an under-par round each of the first three days: Pereira and Fitzpatrick.
Jim Nantz noted that two on the leaderboard—Will Zalatoris and Cameron Young—went to Wake Forest, which plays at Perry Maxwell’s Old Town Club. 👌🏼
Final round key pairings and weather:
Woods WD’s
A triple bogey at the 6th took Tiger Woods out of the tournament. His lower body looked increasingly uncomfortable on a cold, wet morning playing with Shaun Norris. And by the end of the round it was apparent Woods could not push off the right leg.
After posting 79, he passed on a CBS interview.
“Well, I’m sore,” Woods was quoted as saying by reporters near scoring. “I know that is for a fact. We’ll do some work and see how it goes.”
The “work” led to a WD announced soon after the completion of round 3 and an unnecessary statement of support issued by the PGA President.
Golf Twitter praised Woods, especially writers who didn’t want to get up early on what’s expected to be a crisp Sunday morning to watch him struggle and risk further injury.
Though Woods has issued no statement, Bob Harig talked to agent Mark Steinberg who confirmed Woods has pain in his right foot.
Reads
Sean Martin with five things to know about Miko Pereira including his season-long strengths and more on his burnout story.