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Saturday, August 09, 2014

STAGE SET FOR EXCITING SUNDAY FINISH TO MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIP

 RORY McILROY STILL LEADS BUT JUST

AHEAD OF THE PACK AT US PGA
    • FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
      By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM  
  • Rory McIlroy leads at Valhalla but Sunday promises to not be a walk in the park. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images) Rory McIlroy leads at Valhalla but Sunday promises to not be a walk in the park. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky -- Bernd Wiesberger quickly did the maths.
Just over 8 million people, roughly the population of New York City, live in Austria, where he was born, and about 100,000 of those play golf. So Wiesberger figures there will be about 90,000 people pulling for him on Sunday when he plays with Rory McIlroy in the final pairing of the final round of the 96th US PGA Championship.
The interest level worldwide, though, is sure to be a lot higher, given the calibre of the leaderboard and the closeness of the competition. 
McIlroy, who is bidding to win his second straight major, only tops Wiesberger by one at 13 under, and another 16 players will begin the final 18 holes at Valhalla within six strokes of the lead.
That cast includes Rickie Fowler, who tied for second at the last two majors and fifth at the Masters, and his good buddy, Phil Mickelson, a five-time major champion, playing with the colorful millennial in the penultimate group. Fowler is alone at 11 under while Mickelson another stroke back, tied with one more of the game's rising stars in Australia's Jason Day.
It's a far cry from the last two times the game's best players convened to determine a major champion. McIlroy took at six-stroke lead into the final round at Royal Liverpool and Martin Kaymer was five ahead at Pinehurst No. 2 in the U.S. Open in June..






"I would say that leaderboard is the most jam-packed it's been, maybe since the start of the final round at the Masters," Fowler said. "This one's out there for the taking, for sure.
"Anyone can go out and post a number tomorrow. With the way the golf course is playing, it's not out of the question that someone can go shoot 8 or 9 under; being five, six, seven shots back, post early and you never know what can happen.
"It's wide open and someone is going to have to play some good, solid golf tomorrow to win."
You can be certain McIlroy will. Even on Saturday, the world No. 1 managed to shoot his second straight 67 without "really having some of my best stuff," and he responded to Wiesberger's brief challenge on the back nine with three birdies in his last four holes.
Valhalla, which is hosting the PGA this week for the third time since 1996, will certainly have a say in Sunday's outcome. But not necessarily in the way many majors are decided with the course yielding birdies grudgingly and distributing bogeys, doubles and others with apparent delight.
The Jack Nicklaus design may have a sub-air system under the lush Kentucky bluegrass but the fact remains that the course has absorbed several heavy downpours over the last 48 hours and it's soft. The cumulative scoring average is less than a stroke above par, and you can bet the contenders will be in full attack mode on Sunday when there is a 60 percent chance of rain.
"You don't get that opportunity every time you play a major," said former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, who is tied at 9 under. "It should be fun."
But no matter what McIlroy's lead is -- or even if he's trailing, as he was by three last week when he overtook Sergio Garcia to win the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational -- the 25-year-old is supremely confident right now. He's already won three legs of the career Grand Slam by a combined total of 18 strokes.
"The guys got pretty close to me at The Open Championship," McIlroy said. "They got close to me again today, and I was able to respond like I did on the back nine.
"It's not the biggest lead I've ever had, but I'm still in control of this golf tournament and it's a great position to be in going into tomorrow."
 THIRD ROUND SCOREBOARD
  Final round tee off local time listed
os Name 1 2 3 4 Today Thru Total Strokes
1 Rory McIlroy 66  67  67  2:55 pm -4 F -13 200
2 Bernd Wiesberger 68 68 65 2:55 pm -6 F -12 201
3 Rickie Fowler 69 66 67 2:45 pm -4 F -11 202
T4 Phil Mickelson 69 67 67 2:45 pm -4 F -10 203
T4 Jason Day 69 65 69 2:35 pm -2 F -10 203
T6 Louis Oosthuizen 70 67 67 2:35 pm -4 F -9 204
T6 Henrik Stenson 66 71 67 2:25 pm -4 F -9 204
T6 Mikko Ilonen 67 68 69 2:25 pm -2 F -9 204
T6 Ryan Palmer 65 70 69 2:15 pm -2 F -9 204
T10  Jamie Donaldson 69 70 66 2:15 pm -5 F -8 205
T10 Graham DeLaet 69 68 68 2:05 pm -3 F -8 205
T10 Steve Stricker 69 68 68 2:05 pm -3 F -8 205
T13 Hunter Mahan 70 71 65 1:55 pm -6 F -7 206
T13 Adam Scott 71 69 66 1:55 pm -5 F -7 206
T13 Kevin Chappell 65 74 67 1:45 pm -4 F -7 206
T13 Lee Westwood 65 72 69 1:45 pm -2 F -7 206
T13 Joost Luiten 68 69 69 1:25 pm -2 F -7 206
T13 Jim Furyk 66 68 72 1:25 pm +1 F -7 206
T19 Brandt Snedeker 73 68 66 1:15 pm -5 F -6 207
T19 Danny Willett 68 73 66 1:15 pm -5 F -6 207
T19 Bill Haas 71 68 68 1:05 pm -3 F -6 207
T19 Victor Dubuisson 69 68 70 1:05 pm -1 F -6 207
T23 Marc Warren 71 71 66 12:55 pm -5 F -5 208
T23 Brooks Koepka 71 71 66 12:55 pm -5 F -5 208
T23 Sergio Garcia 70 72 66 12:45 pm -5 F -5 208
T23 Ryan Moore 73 68 67 12:45 pm -4 F -5 208
T23 Jimmy Walker 69 71 68 12:35 pm -3 F -5 208
T23 Ernie Els 70 70 68 12:35 pm -3 F -5 208
T23 Alexander Levy 69 71 68 12:25 pm -3 F -5 208
T23 Billy Horschel 71 68 69 12:25 pm -2 F -5 208
T23 Nick Watney 69 69 70 12:15 pm -1 F -5 208
T32 Justin Rose 70 72 67 12:15 pm -4 F -4 209
T32 Jonas Blixt 71 70 68 11:55 am -3 F -4 209
T32 Brian Harman 71 69 69 11:55 am -2 F -4 209
T32 Charl Schwartzel 72 68 69 11:45 am -2 F -4 209
T32 J.B. Holmes 68 72 69 11:45 am -2 F -4 209
T32 Chris Wood 66 73 70 11:35 am -1 F -4 209
T38 Daniel Summerhays 70 72 68 11:35 am -3 F -3 210
T38 Luke Donald 70 72 68 11:25 am -3 F -3 210
T38 Kenny Perry 72 69 69 11:25 am -2 F -3 210
T38 Edoardo Molinari 66 73 71 11:15 am E F -3 210
T42 Branden Grace 73 70 68 11:15 am -3 F -2 211
T42 Patrick Reed 70 71 70 11:05 am -1 F -2 211
T42 Jerry Kelly 67 74 70 11:05 am -1 F -2 211
T42 Scott Brown 71 70 70 10:55 am -1 F -2 211
T42 Geoff Ogilvy 69 71 71 10:55 am E F -2 211
T42 Cameron Tringale 69 71 71 10:45 am E F -2 211
T42 Matt Jones 68 71 72 10:45 am +1 F -2 211
T42 Richard Sterne 70 69 72 10:25 am +1 F -2 211
T50 Zach Johnson 70 72 70 10:25 am -1 F -1 212
T50 Thorbjorn Olesen 71 71 70 10:15 am -1 F -1 212
T50 Ian Poulter 68 73 71 10:15 am E F -1 212
T50 Fabrizio Zanotti 71 70 71 10:05 am E F -1 212
T50 Brendon de Jonge 70 70 72 10:05 am +1 F -1 212
T50 Vijay Singh 71 68 73 9:55 am +2 F -1 212
T56 Hideki Matsuyama 71 72 70 9:55 am -1 F E 213
T56 Pat Perez 71 71 71 9:45 am E F E 213
T56 Jason Bohn 71 71 71 9:45 am E F E 213
T56 Koumei Oda 74 68 71 9:35 am E F E 213
T56 Francesco Molinari 71 71 71 9:35 am E F E 213
T56 Kevin Stadler 71 70 72 9:25 am +1 F E 213
T56 Gonzalo Fernandez-Casta 71 70 72 9:25 am +1 F E 213
T63 Graeme McDowell 73 70 71 9:15 am E F +1 214
T63 Marc Leishman 71 71 72 9:15 am +1 F +1 214
T63 Colin Montgomerie 70 72 72 9:05 am +1 F +1 214
T63 Brendan Steele 71 70 73 9:05 am +2 F +1 214
T63 Fredrik Jacobson 72 69 73 8:55 am +2 F +1 214
T63 Rafael Cabrera-Bello 69 71 74 8:55 am +3 F +1 214
T63 Robert Karlsson 71 69 74 8:45 am +3 F +1 214
T70 Shawn Stefani 68 75 72 8:45 am +1 F +2 215
T70 Bubba Watson 70 72 73 8:35 am +2 F +2 215
T72 Chris Stroud 70 73 73 8:35 am +2 F +3 216
T72 Shane Lowry 68 74 74 8:25 am +3 F +3 216
74 Brendon Todd 70 73 75 8:25 am

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Colin at Saturday, August 09, 2014
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