The Latest: Mickelson holds on to lead the PGA Championship

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This article was published 22/05/2021 (1922 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — The Latest on the PGA Championship (all times local):

7:20 p.m.

Phil Mickelson held on to his lead at the PGA Championship despite struggling on the back nine.

Mickelson shot a 70 on Saturday and was at 7-under 209 for the tournament. He’ll carry a one-shot lead over Brooks Koepka as he tries for his sixth career major and second PGA title.

Mickelson made a 5-foot for par on the closing hole to keep his lead through 54 holes.

Koepka had tied Mickelson for the lead with a birdie on the 16th. But he missed a short putt on the difficult 18th hole to move back down.

Louis Oosthuizen, who began the round tied with Mickelson, was in third at 5 under after a 72.

Kevin Streelman finished with a 70 and is in fourth at 4 under.

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6:40 p.m.

Brooks Koepka has caught Phil Mickelson for a share of the lead at the PGA Championship late in the third round Saturday.

While Mickelson came back to the field with a bogey and double bogey, Koepka has surged with three birdies. The last was a two-putt birdie on the par-5 16th hole that matched Mickelson for the top at 7 under.

Louis Oosthuizen is a shot behind at 5 under.

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6:10 p.m.

Phil Mickelson’s once sizeable lead at the PGA Championship has shrunk to a shot on the back nine.

Mickelson led by five shots and reached 10-under par after his birdie on No. 10. However, a bogey on the 12th hole and a double on No. 13 after driving in the water have left him at 7 under and just a shot in front of major champions Brook Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen.

Mickelson came an inch short of making par on the 12th as he ball stopped a roll before the cup. He had a 12-footer to save bogey on the next hole before missing that for double.

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5:20 p.m.

Phil Mickelson achieved something many thought wouldn’t happen at the Ocean Course — going double digits under par at the PGA Championship.

Mickelson’s fifth birdie of the third round on No. 10 pushed him to 10-under par and opened a five-shot lead over Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen.

Heavy wind off the Atlantic Ocean made the always challenging course even more difficult and confounded competitors at every turn.

No one escaped. Patrick Cantlay had the first bogey-free round earlier Saturday with a 2-under 70.

Oosthuizen reached 6 under Friday before dropping into a tie for first with Mickelson after 36 holes.

Mickelson had continued his mastery of the seaside layout and is threatening to turn this into a runaway, much like Rory McIlroy did here in 2012 to win this title by eight shots.

McIlroy finished 13 under in that victory nine years ago.

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5 p.m.

Patrick Cantlay has posted the first bogey-free round in three days of golf in the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island.

Cantlay made 10 straight pars Saturday before he ripped a fairway wood onto the green on the par-5 11th hole for a two-putt birdie.

He added another birdie on the par-4 13th with an approach to 7 feet. Cantlay made all pars the rest of the way to shoot a 2-under 70 and reach even par for the tournament.

The Ocean Course is playing easier amid lighter wind, but the best score posted has been a 68.

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4:45 p.m.

Phil Mickelson played another brilliant front nine on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island to create some separation at the PGA Championship.

Mickelson shot a 4-under 32 on the first nine holes Saturday. A day earlier, he closed his round with a 5-under 31 after starting on the back nine.

He’s made nine birdies and no bogeys over that stretch to reach 9 under for the tournament and seize a four-shot lead.

The 50-year-old Mickelson is threatening to turn the year’s second major into a rout — much like Rory McIlroy did in 2012 at Kiawah Island, when he won by eight shots.

Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen are tied for second at 5 under. Oosthuizen shared the lead with Mickelson through 36 holes.

Brooks Koepka, a four-time major champion, is another shot back at 4-under as he makes the turn.

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3:30 p.m.

Phil Mickelson opened up an early three-shot lead in the third round of the PGA Championship with some signature risky shots.

Mickelson hit a long iron over a tree that just cleared a waste bunker on the par-5 second hole and settled 17 feet away for a routine two-putt birdie.

On the par-4 third, he drove into a waste bunker and went directly at the pin from 99 yards, hitting it to 2 feet for another birdie to reach 7 under.

The 50-year-old Mickelson is seeking his second PGA and sixth major championship. He would also become the oldest to win a major.

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3:20 p.m.

Jordan Spieth moved his way from the back of the pack to a more respectable position at the PGA Championship with a 4-under 68 that he felt like should have been a few shots better.

Spieth says he’s trying to fix a flaw in his putting stroke and even though he knows what to do, he can’t trust it on the course. That’s led to some frustration on the greens.

But Saturday’s round at least got Spieth back to even par. He says he hates being over par in any tournament and will play aggressively on Sunday.

Though he’s probably too far back to threaten the lead, Spieth needs only the PGA to complete the career grand slam.

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2:50 p.m.

Phil Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen have started their rounds at the PGA Championship.

The two are tied for the top at 5-under par entering Saturday at the Ocean Course. It’s likely they won’t face the milder breezes many of those who started earlier enjoyed. Players who finished say the winds have switched directions, too, making the round another puzzle to solve.

Mickelson and Oosthuizen were a shot in front of Brooks Koepka and two ahead of a group that includes Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama.

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2:15 p.m.

The PGA Championship is bracing for a switch in the wind for the third round.

The wind hasn’t been quite as strong as the first two days. Jordan Spieth and Billy Horschel have each posted a 68, the low score Saturday in the early going.

More telling is how the course was set up.

For two days, the wind was into the face of players on Nos. 1 through 4 and then 14 through 18, and at their backs from Nos. 5 through 13.

The fourth hole was 451 yards on Friday. It’s up to 485 yards on Saturday. It was playing as the hardest hole in the early going. The nine-hole stretch that had been playing mostly downwind the last two days is mostly playing shorter.

The closing hole is at 493 yards for Saturday. That’s nearly 20 yards longer than the first round.

Webb Simpson could sense the change, mainly because it was right-to-left on the 17th hole. That was a problem because it meant having to start the ball over the water on the right.

Either way, Simpson says he doesn’t expect the leaders to have a tough time without as much wind in whatever direction it blows.

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1 p.m.

Jordan Spieth is making a move early at the PGA Championship on Saturday.

The three-time major champion had four birdies through 12 holes, going from 4-over to even par. That’s still five shots in back of co-leaders Phil Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen, who start their rounds later.

Spieth had nine bogeys over his first 36 holes and just squeezed in ahead of the cut line. He’s among several players taking advantage of the calmer, less windy conditions at the Ocean Course.

Joel Dahmen has moved from 3 over to 2 under after making six birdies on his front nine.

Webb Simpson is at 4 under for his third round after making the 5-over cut on the number. Ben Cook, one of two of the 20 club professionals competing to make the cut, is also 4 under for his round.

The winds off the Atlantic Ocean are expected to pick up as the day continues.

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10:15 a.m.

The start of the third round at the PGA Championship has brought a slight reprieve in the relentless wind at Kiawah Island. Billy Horschel is among those taking advantage.

Horschel started birdie-eagle on Saturday and was 4 under for his round through six holes. He made the cut on the number and still was only 1 over for the tournament. Even so, it was a sign that early starters might be able to make up ground.

Webb Simpson was 3 under through seven holes.

Phil Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen, the co-leaders at 5-under 139, were still four hours from teeing off.

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