Alex Smalley
Alex Smalley carded six birdies over his last 10 holes to recover from the rough start to become the only player to break par in all three rounds and take a two stroke lead at the PGA Championships.
It was chaotic day as Smalley even disappeared from the leaderboard for short while as players all around made their mark. Fourteen players had at least a share of the lead at some point. There was a seven-way tie for the lead with an hour left in the third round until Smalley’s birdie streak.
More than twenty players are within the striking distance of five shots, 11 of them major champions – within five shots, a list that includes Masters champion Rory McIlroy and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele.
Smalley, who carded rounds of 67-69-68, opened the third round 3-over through four after bogeys on 1, 2 and 4 but played the final 12 holes in 5-under He capped off with a 13’10” birdie putt on No. 18.
Smalley, while aware of the chasing pack, will hope to see history in his favour. In the last 15 years at the PGA Championship, the winner held at least a share of the 54-hole lead 10 times, including each of the last three year. In 11 of the last 14 PGA Championships, the champion came out of the final group of the final round.
Five players – Matti Schmid, Nick Taylor, Jon Rahm, Aaron Rai and Ludvig Åberg are two strokes behind Smalley.
With a third-round 66, McIlroy (T7/-3) earned his 25th major championship round of 66 or better, second-most all-time only behind Tiger Woods (28); sat T105 after the first round.
McIllroy is a further stroke behind, tied with Schauffele, Patrick Reed and Maverick McNealy.
Schauffele, the 2024 PGA Championship and 2024 Open Championship winner carded a 66 after a 3-over 73 on Friday.
Meanwhile, Kristoffer Reitan (T11/-2), winner of last week’s Truist Championship, recorded eagles on the par-4 13th and par-5 16th, his second time this season with two eagles in a single round.
Three in Colonial lead
Carson Young, Cole Sherwood and Josh Teater hold a two-stroke lead at the Colonial Life Charity Classic with 12-under 198 total.
Young, opened his round with 13 straight pars before playing the next four holes, in 7-under with a eagle-birdie-birdie-albatross spree. His 7-under 63 was the best third-round score.
Sherwood carded a bogey-free 64 Saturday to move into a share of the lead; this marks the first time he has led after any round in PGA TOUR-sanctioned competition.
Teater carded a third-round 64 but ended with a three-putt bogey on the par-4 18th, dropping him into a three-way tie for the lead.
Flavin on course for second consecutive title
Patrick Flavin will be seeking his second consecutive PGA TOUR Americas victory on Sunday at the Peru Open.
The 30-year-old who won the Abierto del Centro Zurich in April, fired a 7-under 65 for the second day in a row to take a two-shot lead at Los Inkas Golf Club. At 19-under 197, Flavin moved away from the pack with an eagle on 14 and a birdie on 15 late on Saturday.
“I’ve definitely been playing really nice golf, and I’m excited to see it showing up again, getting myself back in contention, which is super exciting,” said the Miami (Ohio) University alum who turned pro in 2018.
“I think I’m just doing a lot of stuff really, really well. I’m just trying to keep the same mindset of just getting better each day.”
Dawson Armstrong carded a 7-under 65 as well to move into solo second at 17-under 199. Walker Lee and Joshua Lee are tied for third at 16-under 200.
A Monday qualifier this week, Jose de Jesús Rodríguez remains the leading Latin American player. He joins Joseph Winslow in a tie for fifth at 15-under.
The outright leader by one shot through 36 holes, Conner Godsey carded a 1-over 73 to drop into a tie for ninth at 13-under.
Defending champion Hunter Wolcott remains T39 at 8-under, while 2023 champion Marcos Montenegro is T26 at 10-under.
Andre Chi had an ace at the challenging par-3 17th early in the day. He hit a 4-iron from 226 yards onto an elevated green on his way to a round of 3-under 69. Chi is T39 at 8-under.
