Koepka grabs sole lead; Tiger stays in contention
With so many big names, you would expect two or three of them to really make a run, make a push to get off to a good start and challenge me
Brooks Koepka
st. louis — Two-time US Open champion Brooks Koepka seized a two-stroke lead after Saturday’s third round of the PGA Championship while Tiger Woods charged into contention for his first major title in 10 years.
Fourth-ranked Koepka, who had stretched the lead as large as five shots, fired a four-under par 66 to stand on 12-under 198 after 54 holes at Bellerive Country Club in the year’s final major event.
The laid-back 24-year-old American has never before led a major entering the final round but he shrugged off having 13 rivals within five strokes, even a long-awaited Woods challenge among seven major champions in that pack.
Koepka birdied five of the first nine holes but stumbled with bogeys at 14 and 15 only to boost his lead with a birdie at the par-5 17th. Australian Adam Scott was second on 200 after shooting 65 Saturday with Spain’s Jon Rahm and Americans Rickie Fowler and Gary Woodland, each chasing his first major title, sharing third on 201.
Woods fired a 66 to share fourth on 202 with second-ranked defending champion Justin Thomas, Stewart Cink, Ireland’s Shane Lowry, Australia’s Jason Day and South African Charl Schwartzel.
“With so many big names, you would expect two or three of them to really make a run, make a push to get off to a good start and challenge me.”
That’s just what Woods has in mind. He birdied five of the first eight holes then closed with 10 consecutive pars and finished four off the pace of Koepka, who took his second consecutive US Open triumph in June at Shinnecock.
“I could’ve been a little bit closer but I’ve got a shot going into tomorrow,” Woods said. —