US PGA Championship 2024: third round – live | US PGA

Back-to-back birdies for Viktor Hovland. This one, at 8, brings last year’s runner-up to -10. Some more succour for Scottie Scheffler as well, as he birdies 7, getting up and down from sand, to return to -7. He’s still two over for his round today, something worth keeping an eye on: he’s not yet shot a round over par this calendar year.

Consecutive bogeys for Sahith Theegala. Always out of position after a wild drive at 6. He’s back to -8. But Shane Lowry’s heading in the right direction! His second into 13 isn’t all that – he wants some backspin he’s not getting, and leaves himself a tricky 30-foot downhill oscillator. But he guides it in! He knows it’s dropping before it actually does, and raises a fist in triumph. He’s one off the lead! And Justin Rose, whose chip in was much better, tidies up from close range for a birdie of his own. The pair nod at each other in delight. What a leaderboard!

-12: Schauffele (6), Morikawa (6)
-11: Lowry (13)
-10: Rose (13), DeChambeau (8), Burmester (8)
-9: McIlroy (12), Thomas (10), MacIntyre (8), English (8), Hovland (7), Hubbard (6), Detry (6)

Max Homa is putting in a late application for serious involvement. Birdies at 9, 12 and now 15, and he’s up to -7. Meanwhile it’s the second near miss in a row for Rory McIlroy, whose birdie putt at 12 slithers past from ten feet. Shame after a fine approach. But for a millimetre on 11, and another here, he’d have carded six birdies in a row. The small margins. He remains at -9.

Viktor Hovland has been quiet so far today. A run of six pars to start his round. But he rolls in a 12-footer on the par-five 7th, and rises to -9. Birdie for his playing partner Bryson DeChambeau, too, his of the bounceback variety. A crisp chip up to a couple of feet and the 2020 US Open champ is back to -10. Meanwhile Xander Schauffele leaves a straight birdie putt short on 6. On Sky, Paul McGinley points out that the co-leader has now gone 14 consecutive holes without a birdie. That opening-day 62 suddenly seems a long time ago. But there are worse places to be, sat atop a major-championship leaderboard with a cold putter.

Birdie for Collin Morikawa at 5, and he joins Xander Schauffele at the top of the leaderboard. Meanwhile Justin Thomas makes his birdie putt on 9 and turns in 32. A third PGA title is very much on! But McIlroy’s effort on 11, a left-to-right swinger from ten feet or so, looks like dropping before suddenly failing to keep turning and lipping out. So close. And it’s back-to-back birdies for Bob MacIntyre, who drains a 25-footer on the par-three 8th to get right back into this. An exciting – and, it has to be said, fairly bunched-up – leaderboard!

-12: Schauffele (5), Morikawa (5)
-10: Lowry (11), Burmester (7)
-9: Rose (11), McIlroy (11), Thomas (9), MacIntyre (8), English (7), DeChambeau (6), Hubbard (6), Detry (6), Theegala (5)

A really careless bogey by Sahith Theegala on 5. From the centre of the fairway, 100 yards out, he shoves his wedge into sand, then blades the one coming out. He does pretty well to lag his putt from 50 feet to kick-in distance, limiting the damage to bogey. Meanwhile Thomas Detry can’t get up and down from sand at 6 and slips to -9. An eagle now sandwiched by a couple of bogeys. And birdie for 2011 champion Keegan Bradley at 9. He turns in 33 at -8.

The local hero Justin Thomas nearly slam-dunks in for eagle at 9. Did his ball clatter the flagstick or simply land inches from the cup before spinning back dramatically? Time at last for that long-put-off visit to the opticians, I think, but you get the idea either way. That was close. And he’ll have a short putt to move to -9. Meanwhile McIlroy sends his tee shot at 11 over the flag and a fifth birdie in a row is just a fairly straight ten-foot par away.

It’s four birdies in a row for Rory McIlroy. He clatters his second at the par-five 10th into the fringe at the back of the green. He chips delicately to a couple of feet, and now the 2012 and 2014 champion is right in this. Meanwhile a birdie for Bob MacIntyre on 7. No visit to the hospitality box today, and his reward is a climb to -8.

Trouble for Bryson DeChambeau at 6. He sends his tee shot into trouble down the right, and can only advance his second into further nonsense. He ends up doing very well to get up and down from the apron, limiting the damage to bogey. He slips back to -9.

Scottie Scheffler bounces back in style! His approach into 5 isn’t the best – landing pin high then spinning back 15 feet – but the putt is a doozy. Straight into the middle of the cup, and he’s back up to -6. An inviting par-five coming up for the Masters champion, too. Plenty of stories still to be told here on Moving Day, especially with the leading pair of Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa both level par for their rounds through 4.

-12: Schauffele (4)
-11: Morikawa (4)
-10: Lowry (10), Burmester (6), DeChambeau (5), Detry (5), Theegala (4)
-9: Rose (10), Hubbard (5)
-8: McIlroy (9), Thomas (8), Herbert (8), English (6), Finau (6), Hovland (5)

Rory McIlroy is also made of the right stuff, of course. We just haven’t seen it too much in the majors during the last ten years. Or certainly not as much as we should have. But here he is, righting some wrongs. Today’s slow start long forgotten as he sends his approach at 10 from 157 yards to three feet, before tidying up for his third birdie in a row. After that sluggish opening, he’s sparked into life and is turning in 32. He’s -8 and back in this! If he can post something, with Scheffler struggling back at -5, the leading pack may begin to feel a strange cooling sensation travelling up and down the spine.

Scottie Scheffler is made of the right stuff. Like that’s breaking news. He gathers himself amid the tumult and rolls in the bogey putt, and that means statisticians worldwide can stand down: we don’t have to ask when he last made two double-bogeys in three holes. But that’s four shots gone in four holes, which is odd enough. A start of 4-6-4-5 for the best player in the world, and therefore we must conclude that golf, dear friends, is difficult.

This is getting truly ugly for Scottie Scheffler. He works out where to take his penalty drop, just inside the cart path but in thick rough. He attempts to flip his ball up onto the green, but wafts under it. As the ball flops apologetically into more rough a few feet ahead, Scheffler’s head hangs. How he could do with his regular caddie to prop him up here, but Ted Scott isn’t about today. If ever a player needed his trusted wingman, it’s Scottie Scheffler, right here, right now, after all of yesterday’s mentally draining excursions. Poor Scottie. He chips his second effort up to 12 feet, but there’s work to do to limit the damage to bogey.

Thomas Detry finished up with eagle yesterday. He makes another here, chipping in from the fairway at 4, and all of a sudden the Belgian is right in the mix at -10! He’s joined there by Burmester, who birdies 5. Everyone starting to make some scores again!

Scottie Scheffler’s woes continue. He opens his shoulders at the short par-four 4th and gives the tee shot his all … only to pull his ball over the punters down the left, over a cart path and picket fence, and into a hazard just short of a creek. He’ll take a penalty drop, but with so many variables to consider, he’ll need a ruling and this will take some working out. Perhaps this is yesterday morning’s chickens sadly coming home to roost, after that adrenaline-fuelled post-arrest 66.

Shane Lowry out in 29!

Birdie at 7 for Rory McIlroy, reward for launching his second into the heart of the par-five. Bounceback birdie for Collin Morikawa at 3, a delicate chip from the fringe, over the shoulder of a bunker. But just a par for Bryson DeChambeau at the 297-yard par-four 4th. It’ll feel like a bogey, if the look of disappointment written across his face is anything to go by.

They’ve just shown footage of Koepka’s missed bogey putt on 5. A weird one. A simple tap-in from a couple of feet that somehow does the full 360 around the rim and stubbornly refuses to drop. Wow. The earlier burst of low scoring has eased off a little bit. Meanwhile Adam Hirst argues that Scheffler’s apparent demise today matters not a jot, as all the serious work had been successfully completed yesterday: “Can we all agree that having walked out of the slammer straight to the course and shot a 66 in a major is undoubtedly the greatest round of golf in human history? It’s what stag-do golfing dreams are made of.”

Scottie Scheffler’s tee shot into 3 isn’t all that. On the green, but only just, and a long, long way from the pin. His first putt stops eight feet short, and the attempt to save par is always missing to the left. Another shot gone, and the world number one is three over for his round through three holes. He’s -6. Meanwhile a careless three-putt bogey for Collin Morikawa at 2. But a fine birdie for the local hero Justin Thomas, at 6, and the two-time champion rises to -7.

Brooks Koepka has already defended the PGA Championship once in his career. It’s looking increasingly unlikely that he’ll repeat that trick this week. The reigning champion went into the day nicely placed at -7, but having dropped a stroke at the 1st, he’s compounded the error with a three-putt triple-bogey at 5. He slips back into the pack at -4. Ah well, he’ll always have Oak Hill. And Bellerive. And Bethpage Black.

Bob MacIntyre stemmed the bleeding with that staunch par save at 3. Now he’s started turning the ship around, finding a greenside bunker with his tee shot at the shortened par-four 4th and nearly holing out for eagle. He tidies up to move back to -7, and this entry has been a mixed-metaphor masterclass.

Patrick Reed slam-dunks a 77-yard chip straight into the cup at 18. A most elegant way to turn an over-par back nine into a one-under 35. The erstwhile Masters champion is -4.

Scottie Scheffler is both the world’s best golfer and one big strong dude. But even he can’t gouge his ball out of the thick oomska down the left of the 2nd green. He gets it halfway up the hill. His second attempt comes out hot, the ball flying 30 feet past the flag and only just staying on the green. Two putts later and that’s a double bogey. Not a single shot played well, and you have to wonder if the travails of yesterday are about to take their toll in a delayed whammy. Scottie’s -7.

Shane Lowry’s not too far away from draining a long eagle putt on 7. Birdie will do. He taps in for his fifth of the day, then his playing partner Justin Rose continues their shot-for-shot routine by rolling in a 12-footer for his fifth birdie today. This is superb stuff from two of Europe’s finest. England’s first win at the PGA since 1919 – or perhaps Ireland’s since 2008 – is a live possibility!

-12: Schauffele (1)
-11: Morikawa (1)
-10: Rose (7), DeChambeau (2), Theegala (1)
-9: Lowry (7), Hubbard (1), Scheffler (1), Detry (1)

In the meantime, Rory McIlroy makes an outrageous escape on 6. Having flown his second down a swale to the back of the green, he does all he can to whip up from thick rough to 15 feet. Shortsided, it was about the best he could do. But in goes the putt! He stays at -5. And back on the 1st, the leader Xander Schauffele chunks a chip from the back of the green. It’s a most uncharacteristic error, but he rolls in the 12-foot par putt he’s left himself, a steely reset. He stays one clear of Collin Morikawa at -12.

“Free Scottieeeeeeee!!!” It’s already a thing, isn’t it, and it won’t be going away any time soon. Mashed potato cranked all the way up to 11. The words ring around the course as Scheffler belts his drive at 2 into a fairway bunker down the right. Then he nearly pulls his second into a creek along the left. A big up and down attempt coming along here.

Opening par for Scottie. Slightly disappointing, seeing he’d landed his second pin high to ten feet, and the putt that remained was pretty straight. Meanwhile up on 2, Tony Finau batters a drive 333 yards, then wedges from 131 yards to six feet. In pops the putt, and there’s somebody else moving in the right direction.

-12: Schauffele
-11: Morikawa
-10: DeChambeau (1), Theegala
-9: Rose (6), Finau (2), Hubbard (1), Scheffler (1), Detry (1)
-8: Lowry (5), Herbert (4), English (2), Burmester (2), Eckroat (1), Hovland (1)
-7: Bradley (4), Thomas (4), Wallace (1)

“This could be the lowest scoring day in major-championship history,” opines Sky commentator Paul McGinley. No wind, soft greens, warm sunshine, all that. This being the case, you don’t want to be going backwards too much at any given point. So it’s a big putt for Bob MacIntyre on 3. Having dropped a shot at 2, he’s facing another bogey at 3. Unless he makes a 15-footer, he’ll effectively be making his fourth in his last five holes of play. But in it goes, and Scotland’s only representative here remains at -6.

Shane Lowry is this close to holding out from a greenside bunker at 6. That’s an end to his run of birdies, though. Tom Hoge drains a monster from downtown on 17, his fourth birdie of the day, and he’s -6. And there are opening birdies for Bryson DeChambeau and Austin Eckroat. A lot of players throwing darts, with the course there for the taking.

Another huge ovation for Scottie Scheffler. He bashes his opening tee shot down the middle of the track. If becoming a new father and jailbird isn’t enough in the way of lifestyle change for the world number one this week, he’s now got to deal with a new caddie as well. Brad Payne, the PGA Tour chaplain, carries his bag, while his full-time looper Ted Scott is absent for the day as he’s attending his daughter’s high-school graduation. Scott is expected back for the final 18.

A fourth birdie in a row for Justin Rose! This one comes after rattling in a 15-footer at 5. He’s going round today with the 2019 Open winner Shane Lowry, and the big Irishman is matching him shot for shot! Four birdies on the bounce as well, between 2 and 5, and holy moly, let’s update the leaderboard for the first time today.

-12: Schauffele
-11: Morikawa
-10: Theegala
-9: Rose (5), Detry, Scheffler, Hubbard, DeChambeau
-8: Lowry (5), Herbert (3), English (1), Burmester (1), Eckroat, Hovland
-7: Wallace (1), MacIntyre (1), Finau (1)

Jordan Spieth’s dream of completing his major-championship set this week is not yet kaput. The 2015 Masters winner, 2015 US Open winner, and 2017 Open winner crashes his second from 240 yards to eight feet at the par-five 7th, and makes the eagle putt to move to -5. With not much wind and the greens receptive after so much rain, expect a day of low scoring. Someone will surely make a burst from the pack.

Birdie for Rory McIlroy at 4. They’ve moved the tee box up at this already short par-four, and now most of the players can reach the green with a 3-wood. So they’re all going for it, reward with not too much risk involved. It’s playing at an average of 3.4 today, so birdie is closer to par than, er, par. You get the gist. Anyway, that’s the ninth birdie at this hole so far; the other six scores recorded have been pars. Rory’s back to where he started at -5.

Bob MacIntyre was running hot last night. Having found a hospitality area to the left of the 7th, it took the officials 25 minutes to give him a ruling regarding his drop, and though he went on to make his par, his rhythm was lost. Bogeys at 8 and 9 to finish, and he left the course “really annoyed”. His mood wouldn’t have been improved when sending his approach at 1 into the bunker back left of the green, and finding himself with a downhill lie. But he splashed out elegantly to a couple of feet, and tidied up for his par. He remains -7 and perhaps that’s put an end to his sequence of woe.

Hopes are rising for Justin Rose, though. The 2013 US Open champ finished strongly yesterday, back in 32, a brilliant eagle on the last in the gloaming. Hartley Wintney’s finest is taking full advantage of that momentum, and has opened his round today in searing fashion, with birdies at 2, 3 and now 4. All of a sudden, from worrying about the cut yesterday, the 43-year-old Englishman is -8 and very much part of the discussion!

Here we go, then, the start of Moving Day. Or, to put it another way, the point at which Rory McIlroy’s latest bid to end his long major drought starts going south. Hopes had been raised with that fine street-fighting 66 on Thursday, but yesterday’s level-par 71 ceded ground to the leaders. As a result, a low score is required today, with a slow start being of no use whatsoever. And sadly a slow start is exactly what he’s serving up. Bogey at 1 after a visit to a greenside bunker. He’s one-over for his round through 3, and -4 overall.

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