The PGA Championship where no one could take control Saturday is now the major that practically everybody can win.
Alex Smalley at least gets a head start thanks to his sublime play on the back nine at Aronimink Golf Club, with six birdies over his final 10 holes for a 2-under 68 and a two-shot lead.
His finishing kick kept this PGA Championship from having the largest 54-hole logjam in major championship history. There was a seven-way tie for the lead with an hour to go in the third round, and players with highest pedigree all within range.
Fourteen players had at least a share of the lead Saturday. Midway through the third round, 28 players were separated by two shots. And not just any players.
Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy were among those tied at one point. Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed were right behind. About the only one who failed to seize on the moment was defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who missed six putts inside 10 feet, four of them for birdie.
Smalley’s final birdie putt from just inside 15 feet put him at 6-under 204, two shots ahead of Abbotsford, B.C.’s Nick Taylor and Rahm, and three ahead of McIlroy Schauffele and Reed.
Scheffler made a nine-foot bogey putt on the final hole and was five behind.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Scheffler said. “I’ve never seen a leaderboard like this, this bunched up. Going into tomorrow, it’s quite literally anybody’s tournament.”
But it starts with Smalley, the 29-year-old who lives in North Carolina and is playing only his fifth major, never cracking the top 20. He’s also never won on tour, but he’s been rounding into form lately. He is coming up three straight finishes in the top 20.
He looked like he might crack early, playing in the final group with Maverick McNealy, spraying the ball off the tee and opening with three bogeys in four holes to disappear from the enormous crowd atop the leaderboard.
But even amid the big gusts and fast, scary greens, Smalley was resilient as ever. He took the lead with a 25-foot birdie putt on the par-4 15th — 551 yards into the wind — stretched it two shots by reaching the par-5 16th in two for another birdie and then had a bogey-birdie finish.
Rahm had a careless three-putt bogey on the final hole that slightly soiled his 3-under 67, but he was part of the five-way tie for second with Ludvig Aberg of Sweden (68), Matti Schmid of Germany, Taylor (65) and Aaron Rai of England (67).
“That was a fantastic round of golf and thrilled to be in a good position for tomorrow,” Rahm said.
McIlroy began the third round five shots behind but with 29 players ahead of him. He blasted his way to a 4-under 66 — his 25th score in a major at 66 or better. He wasn’t sure where that would leave him when he finished, except that did what he needed.
“I feel like I still did enough to think I have a chance going into tomorrow,” McIlroy said.
Schauffele had a 66 and Reed bounced back with a 67, two shots behind along with McNealy, who bogeyed the final hole for a 71.
The pin positions were far more accessible than the previous two days, as McIlroy had predicted. No one shot better than 65, though Chris Kirk had a double bogey on the 18th for one of those rounds. Justin Rose was outside the cut line on Friday until holing a chip from deep rough for eagle on his last hole to make it with one shot to spare. He shot 65 and was among those four shots behind.
“When you have a set of greens like this, you can start to frustrate people pretty easily,” McIlroy said. “It’s frustrating to us, but at the same time, it creates a hell of an entertaining championship. If I wasn’t playing this tournament, I’d love what’s going on this week.
“But watching and playing are two different things.”
What a show, indeed.
The leading 10 players come from seven countries, four of them major champions. Taylor saw the leaderboards across Aronimink and kept right on walking.
“It’s so bunched, it’s kind of pointless,” Taylor said. “I’ll definitely be aware late tomorrow, if I’m in that position. But with so many things going on, it’s just a distraction if you start looking at it.”
