SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — The third round of the PGA Championship was suspended at 2:14 p.m. on Saturday, anticipating dangerous weather moving in the area, with play never resuming.
PGA of America officials originally announced they anticipated a one-hour delay. That delay turned into nearly four hours before play was halted for the day. Play is to resume at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning. However, storms are expected to continue through the night and for much of Sunday, bringing into question if it will even be possible for the tournament to resume given the condition of the golf course.
However, the PGA has an ambitious, albeit unorthodox plan, to finish the tournament on Sunday. At 8:40 a.m., they will start Round 4 without the third round having finished. Players will not repair, going off in their third round pairings in nine-minute intervals up until a 3:25 p.m. final tee time with Robert Streb and Jimmy Walker. The intent will be to complete play around 8 p.m. on Sunday night.
Co-leaders Jimmy Walker and Robert Streb, both at 9-under 131 through 36 holes, are yet to tee off, as are the five other groups in front of them. A total of 38 players, among the 85 who made the cut, have completed their third rounds.
Before the rain delay, scoring conditions were generous. Two players, Kevin Kisner and Padraig Harrington, finished off 5-under 65s each. Phil Mickelson, who shot 2-under 68 on Saturday, said he thought scoring conditions could yield a record-low score for a major championship just a day after Robert Streb became the latest player — the third in 16 days — to shoot 63 in a major.
“I think somebody is going to break that 63 record in these next two days,” he said. “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.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
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