Wow, wow, and wow. That’s all I really have to say. The third round of the PGA Championship had all the feel of a final round of a major championship. Lucky for us, it was only Saturday. There was a rise with Phil Mickelson going 5-under through his first 10 holes. A conflict, when an overcooked draw from the face of his trusty 2-wood found the water on the 13th hole, resulting in a double-bogey. As for a potential fall and resolution, we will simply have to wait 24 hours as Mickelson will attempt to become the oldest major championship winner.
Alongside Mickelson in the final pairing will be the big, bad bully that is Brooks Koepka, who “had the worst putting performance of the week” in his third round. Those of you who will look to his Strokes Gained: Putting number may disagree, but I find it hard to knock the four-time major champion. His speed was off for the majority of the day, often leaving himself unnecessary stress on the putting surfaces. Still, Koepka was able to turn in a round of 2-under 70, matching Mickelson’s third round score, and will start one-stroke behind the five-time major winner.
This championship won’t be handed to either of them as there are a number of players who could make a Sunday run for glory. Louis Oosthuizen and Kevin Streelman will be in the penultimate group, each with a realistic shot to win the year’s second major. And then you have the South African duo of Branden Grace and Christiaan Bezuidenhout sitting at 3-under and hardly out of it.
With the winds expected to freshen as the leaders are making the turn, the furthest back I would go to find a winner is 2-under. There you have Gary Woodland, Joaquin Niemann, and Bryson DeChambeau. All would make for a tremendous story, but maybe none better than Niemann, who would be the youngest PGA champion since Rory McIlroy.
I for one will be sticking to my lone horse left in the race, the one rocking the questionable facial hair. Koepka, who was listed at +5000 pre-tournament is all the way down to +150 and is the current favorite at PointsBet Sportsbook. With no other clear outright value in my mind, I’ll sit this one out and hope Koepka can play spoiler to Mickelson.
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