Final round:
Seven golfers within six shots of the lead.
Haven — For the third time in as many visits to Whistling Straits, the PGA Championship heads to the final round with a tightly packed group at the top of the leader board.
The leader, Australian Jason Day, stands at 15-under 201 through three rounds after shooting a 6-under 66 on Saturday. He’s closely followed by Jordan Spieth, the 22-year-old star from Texas who birdied six of the final eight holes to cap a 7-under 65 that put him two shots off the lead at 203.
Trailing those two is a virtual United Nations. The next seven golfers on the board are within six shots of the lead and represent six countries.
“It just goes to show the quality of the golf worldwide now,” said Australian Matt Jones, who dropped one shot to 10-under 206 after starting the third round in the lead. “There’s golfers from everywhere in the world that are very good.”
South Africa’s Branden Grace carded an 8-under 64, the lowest score of the day, to catapult himself to 12-under 204 and a tie for third with England’s Justin Rose. Rose, a 16-year veteran and No. 6player in the world, carries with him a strong reputation with seven PGA Tour victories, including the 2013 U.S. Open.
Grace may be ranked 28th in the world, but he is still searching for that elusive first PGA Tour victory and instant credibility that comes with it. However, he’s starting to pick up some fans in Wisconsin.
“Obviously I’m not a big name out here yet,” he said. “We’re trying to work ourselves up the leader boards and up the rankings, but (the fans) have been great. There’s been a couple of ‘Gracey’ cheers out there, which is nice.”
Martin Kaymer, the 30year-old German who won the PGA Championship the last time it was played at Whistling Straits in 2010, entered the thick of the race Saturday. Playing with Grace, Kaymer shot a 7-under 65, which was tied for the secondbest score of the day.
Grace and Kaymer pushed one another, both playing bogey-free rounds. One of Kaymer’s best shots came on the 17th hole, where he landed a 34-foot putt to momentarily pull even with Grace, who went on to birdie No. 18.
“But 17 was huge,” Kaymer said. “There was such a fantastic atmosphere. And I heard a lot of Germans out there, obviously there are quite a few here. So it’s great support that Branden and me got today.”
One of the more surprising late-afternoon pairings was 25-year-old American rookie Tony Finau and Anirban Lahiri, the 28-year-old who is quickly establishing himself as the modern face of Indian golf. Neither has ever finished higher than 30th in a major.
Finau, who was born in Utah and is of Tongan and American Samoan descent, is one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, but is tied with Jones for sixth at 10-under because of how well he has handled the greens this week. He has gained more than six strokes with his putting, a statistic that is among the top 10 during the tournament.
Lahiri, another big hitter, won the long-drive contest Tuesday and is peaking at the right time. He qualified for all four majors this year for the first time, but missed the cut at the U.S. Open and had middling results at the Masters and British Open.
Like many others, he woke up at 4 a.m. to finish his weather-delayed second round, but when he checked his phone, he saw different messages on social media than the rest of his competitors.
“Obviously it’s a big day back home, Independence Day,” said Lahiri, who speaks Punjabi, Hindi, Bengali and English and considers himself more of a national Indian. “So it’s nice to play well.”
Should Lahiri, who is tied with Dustin Johnson at 9-under 207, come back from six behind Day for the victory, he would become just the second Indian to win on the PGA Tour and the first to claim a major title. Vijay Singh, who is of Indian descent but is from Fiji, won the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in 2004.
With only three Americans in the top nine, the PGA Championship could have its third international champion in as many trips to Whistling Straits. Sunday will feature an Olympic-style battle, even though golf’s return to that stage won’t come until next summer.
“Yeah, obviously excited about that opportunity as well,” Rose said when asked Saturday about the Olympics.
“It’s always great to represent your country.”