Five different players rode hot streaks up the leader board to tie Rory McIlroy for first place at one time or another on Saturday at the PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky.
McIlroy turned them all back – just barely – and enters the final round on Sunday with a 1-stroke lead after firing a 4-under 67 to reach 13-under for the tournament.
With rains making the greens slower than normal, McIlroy was joined by a host of players who shot well under par. Sixteen players shot at least 4-under, and 11 are within five shots of the lead heading to Sunday as McIlroy tries to become the first man since Padraig Harrington in 2007 to win back-to-back Majors.
McIlroy was just 1-under through 14 holes, then rattled off birdies on 15, 16 and 18 to turn things around. He’s a combined 8-under on holes 15-18 so far in the tournament.
His most unlikely challenger is 28-year-old Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, who refused to wilt under pressure, firing the day’s best score – a 65- to reach 12-under.
Wiesberger played a bogey-free round and birdied his last three holes in a row. Wiesberger missed the cut at the PGA Championship in both 2012 and 2013.
American Rickie Fowler is all alone in third at 11-under with a 4-under, a stroke ahead of Phil Mickelson and Jason Day. Sunday will be five days short of nine years since Mickelson won the 2005 PGA Championship by a single stroke.
Mickelson was at even par through 12, then rattled off four birdies in the closing five holes.
Four more players are at 9-under, including Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, who shot a 67.
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