ROCHESTER, New York : Co-leaders world number two Scottie Scheffler, Norway’s Viktor Hovland and Canadian Corey Conners headed out for a soggy third round at the PGA Championship with umbrellas in hand on Saturday as rain continued to swamp Oak Hill Country Club.
From the first players off at 8:10am ET (1210 GMT) until the last pairing of Scheffler and Conners almost seven hours later the East Course had been pounded by often torrential rain that dumped more than half-inch (12.7 millimetres) on the already challenging layout.
Scheffler, Conners and Hovland had shared the overnight two shot lead and held the same advantage as they teed off, the rain effectively putting the breaks on any serious challenges.
The forecast was calling for rain to subside during the leaders round but they will still have to contend with a water-logged layout despite an army of course workers pushing water off the greens with squeegees in a heroic effort to keep the course playable.
The downpour did not deter spectators but the large crowd appeared to be in an ugly mood by the time Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau teed off in the third last grouping, loudly jeering the LIV Golf standard bearer.
Once bitter rivals, the pair are now LIV Golf team mates united in the Saudi-bankrolled venture’s feud with the PGA Tour, which they left to sign on with the big money rebel circuit.
The late pairs certainly knew what was ahead as they watched drenched early starters come home.
Defending champion Justin Thomas began the day at five-over and doubled that to 10-over with a five-over 75 that included six bogeys and single birdie.
Six-times major winner Phil Mickelson also had a 75 joining Thomas near the bottom of the leaderboard.
Jordan Spieth, needing a PGA Championship to complete the career Grand Slam of all four majors will likely have to wait another year to get it done as a respectable one-over 71 still left him well off the pace on six-over.
“It’s just really difficult to keep everything dry, and so it starts with a grip, and then from there, if you get water on the ball or the driver face, the ball can really go anywhere,” said Spieth.
“There was two drives where right when I hit them, I looked up and I was like, oh, man, that’s a water shooter.”
World number one Jon Rahm’s miserable PGA Championship continued as the Spaniard battled to a two-over 72.
The Masters champion opened with back-to-back bogeys and stumbled through the turn at five-over before rallying with three birdies but remained well back at six-over going into Sunday.
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