July 31, 2016: The PGA Championship was halted because of thunderstorms Saturday, raising the possibility of a second straight Monday finish in a major championship at Baltusrol. Padraig Harrington shot a brilliant 65 to gain 51 spots into the top ten at Baltusrol.
Jimmy Walker and Robert Streb, tied for the lead at 9-under par, were 40 minutes from teeing off in the third round when clouds gathered, the sky rumbled and the horn sounded to suspend play. The course was pounded with rain, and three hours later, the round had not resumed.
Kevin Kisner had a 5-under 65 and was done with 54 holes at 5-under 205. Padraig Harrington also had a 65 and was at 4-under 206.
Only 36 of the 86 players who made the cut finished the third round.
Phil Mickelson won the 2005 PGA Championship when tournament organizers took a gamble on not moving up the Sunday tee times because of rain in the forecast, and it cost them. Mickelson had to return Monday morning to claim a one-shot victory.
The last Monday finish in a major was just last year at the British Open because of heavy rain that flooded St. Andrews.
Kisner and Harrington showed a glimpse of what figured to be low scoring Saturday because of the soft conditions from two spells of rain earlier in the week. Play had to be stopped Friday morning for nearly an hour because of moderate rain that left the two fairways on the far end of the course filled with too much water.
“You keep it in the fairway, you can attack,” Kisner said. “The course is receptive enough. You can make a lot of birdies.”
Mickelson made the cut with one shot to spare on Friday, rallying from an opening tee shot that went out-of-bounds and onto a side street. He shot a 68 on Saturday and was at 1-under 209.
“There is a low 60s round,” Mickelson said when he finished. “I think somebody is going to break that 63 record in these next two days. The greens are pristine. You can make a lot of putts. They are soft, so you can get the ball very close. I think that there’s that 61 or 62 out there that I was probably trying to chase a little too hard.”
Two weeks ago, Mickelson had a putt for 62 that rimmed out of the cup at Royal Troon in the opening round. Henrik Stenson closed with a 63, needing his best golf to hold off Mickelson.
And then Friday, Streb became the 28th player to post a 63 when he made a 20-foot birdie on his final hole at Baltusrol.
The course was so susceptible that Harrington didn’t feel as though he played all that well and still played bogey-free for a 65.
“Hit the right shots at the right time and any of the shots that I didn’t hit well didn’t do me any harm,” he said. “So it was one of those days. It’s nice when you score better than you play. It was just an average day, as I said. Thursday was the day I played well. It was amazing, the best I played Thursday, is the worst score I shot. That’s the nature of the game.”
The nature of the game Saturday was to wait.
Jordan Spieth played one hole and narrowly missed a birdie putt. Rickie Fowler had 45 feet for birdie on the first hole.
That was as far as they got. And with rain still falling three hours later, it didn’t look promising that they would play any more on Saturday.
PGA.COM Report by AP
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