05/16/26 07:17:00
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05/16 19:14 CDT Alex Smalley grabs a 2-shot lead in a PGA Championship up for
grabs
Alex Smalley grabs a 2-shot lead in a PGA Championship up for grabs
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) --- The PGA Championship where no one could take
control Saturday is now the major where it seems practically everybody can win.
Alex Smalley at least gets a head start thanks to his sublime play on the back
nine at Aronimink Golf Club, with six birdies over his last 10 holes that
helped him recover from a shaky start and carried him to a 2-under 68 and a
two-shot lead.
Smalley is the only player to break par in all three rounds of the tournament.
His finishing kick kept this PGA Championship from having the largest 54-hole
logjam in major championship history. There was a seven-way tie for the lead
with an hour to go in the third round, and players with highest pedigree all
within range.
Fourteen players had at least a share of the lead Saturday. Midway through the
third round, 28 players were separated by two shots. And not just any players.
Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy were among those tied at one point. Xander Schauffele
and and Patrick Reed were right behind. About the only one who failed to seize
on the moment was defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who missed six putts
inside 10 feet, four of them for birdie.
Smalley's final birdie putt from just inside 15 feet put him at 6-under 204,
two shots ahead of the group that includes Rahm and three ahead of McIlroy,
Schauffele and Reed.
Scheffler made a 9-foot bogey putt on the last hole and was five behind.
"I've never seen anything like this," Scheffler said. "I've never seen a
leaderboard like this, this bunched up. Going into tomorrow, it's quite
literally anybody's tournament."
But it starts with Smalley, a 29-year-old who spent three years in the
Wanamaker dormitory at Duke, the name on the heavy PGA Championship trophy to
be awarded Sunday. He is playing only his fifth major, never cracking the top
20. He's also never won on tour, but he showed up for his first major of the
year off three straight finishes in the top 20.
He looked like he might crack early, playing in the final group with Maverick
McNealy, spraying the ball off the tee and opening with three bogeys in four
holes to disappear from the enormous crowd atop the leaderboard.
But even amid the big gusts and fast, scary greens, Smalley was resilient as
ever. Key to his round was a 15-foot par putt on the sixth hole to stop the
slide. He took the lead with a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-4 15th --- 551
yards into the wind --- stretched it two shots by reaching the par-5 16th in
two for another birdie and then had a bogey-birdie finish.
Rahm had a careless three-putt bogey on the final hole that slightly soiled his
3-under 67, but he was part of the five-way tie for second with Ludvig Aberg of
Sweden (68), Matti Schmid of Germany (65), Nick Taylor Canada (65) and Aaron
Rai of England (67).
"That was a fantastic round of golf and thrilled to be in a good position for
tomorrow," Rahm said.
McIlroy began the third round five shots behind but with 29 players ahead of
him. He blasted his way to a 4-under 66 --- his 25th score in a major at 66 or
better. His target was to reach 5 under, and it looked like he might get there
until failing to birdie the par-5 16th and having to scramble for bogey from a
plugged lie in the bunker on the 17th.
"I feel like I still did enough to think I have a chance going into tomorrow,"
McIlroy said.
Schauffele had a 66 and Reed bounced back with a 67, two shots behind along
with McNealy, who bogeyed the final hole for a 71.
The pin positions were far more accessible than the previous two days, as
McIlroy had predicted. No one shot better than 65, though Chris Kirk had a
double bogey on the 18th for one of those rounds. Justin Rose was outside the
cut line on Friday until holing a chip from deep rough for eagle on his last
hole to make it with one shot to spare. He shot 65 and was among those four
shots behind.
"When you have a set of greens like this, you can start to frustrate people
pretty easily," McIlroy said. "It's frustrating to us, but at the same time, it
creates a hell of an entertaining championship. If I wasn't playing this
tournament, I'd love what's going on this week.
"But watching and playing are two different things."
What a show, indeed.
The leading 10 players come from seven countries, four of them major champions.
Taylor saw the leaderboards across Aronimink and kept right on walking.
"It's so bunched, it's kind of pointless," Taylor said. "I'll definitely be
aware late tomorrow, if I'm in that position. But with so many things going on,
it's just a distraction if you start looking at it."
That's what faces Smalley on Sunday, who will try to become the first player
since Shaun Micheel to make a major his first title on one of the main six main
tours in the world. A victory would also come with a $3.69 million payout.
"Anybody who wants to play golf for a living dreams of winning on the PGA Tour
when they're younger. I recognize that I have an opportunity to do that
tomorrow," Smalley said. "I recognize that it's on a stage that's a little bit
larger than most other tour events.
"I'm trying to downplay that as much as I possibly can just to make it seem
like any other golf tournament, because essentially that's all it really is."
AP Golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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