Kiwi well placed at PGA Championships
Ryan Fox’s memorable year could have more to give after the New Zealand golfer kept himself in the hunt for a top finish at the PGA Championship.
Fox carded a third round of even-par 71 at Quail Hollow to be tied for 12th at one-under, six shots off the pace.
American Kevin Kisner survived a poor finish to limp in with a one-stroke lead over Hideki Matsuyama and Chris Stroud after the third round in North Carolina.
Fox roared into contention with a second round of 66 but only slipped one spot with his even-par effort on moving day in the year’s fourth and final major championship.
Like many of his rivals Fox had a mixed day with three birdies and three bogeys, but limited the damage to be level with Americans Rickie Fowler and Chez Reavie, and South Korea’s Sung Kang.
He was in lofty company, one strone ahead of a fading Jason Day and England’s Paul Casey.
Day plunged out of contention with a quadruple-bogey at the last, while Kisner eked out a one-over 72 on a Quail Hollow course that bared its teeth despite little wind.
Kisner, not a long hitter but unerringly accurate for the most part until he double-bogeyed the 16th and bogeyed the last, posted a seven-under 206 total, one stroke ahead fellow American Stroud (71) and Japan’s Matsuyama (73).
American Justin Thomas and South African Louis Oosthuizen were two behind, the top five bunched within two shots heading into the final round of the year’s last major.
On undulating greens, some of the hole locations were extremely difficult, with nobody on the leaderboard shooting better than the 68 by Canadian Graham Delaet, who went sixunder in a remarkable four-hole stretch to end the day five strokes behind.
‘‘I didn’t make the putts I’ve been making the first two days and just terrible finish there,’’ lamented world No 25 Kisner, who pulled his approach into water at the par-four 16th.
‘‘It feels easy until you smack one in the water and then it seems hard again.’’
Stroud was also still standing, six days after recording his first PGA Tour victory in Reno, Nevada.
‘‘It played very difficult,’’ the 35-year-old American said.
‘‘Didn’t do anything great but I didn’t do anything bad. I made some great pars and at the end of the day I’ve got a chance. I’m as calm as I’ve ever been.’’
Matsuyama, tied for the halfway lead, had high hopes of moving into position to become the first Japanese man to win a major.
Instead, he bogeyed the first and never got anything going, making just one birdie all day. But by parring the brutally difficult final three holes, known as the ‘Green Mile’ with water lurking, he stayed very much in contention.