PGA Championship: Spieth, DJ, and McIlroy move, mostly down
As the PGA Championship shifts from moving day to Championship Sunday, the early favorites are taking a back seat in the unfolding drama.
The PGA Championship moving day drama is over and so are the chances of Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, and Rory McIlroy to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy this year.
What happened to the three top seeds for the final major of the season? They simply didn’t live up to the hype.
Spieth’s grand slam will have to wait
Jordan Spieth’s much heralded quest for his career grand slam will have to wait for 2018 and St. Louis. A win at the centennial PGA Champiuonship would be a storybook victory for Spieth, who hasn’t found a fit with the renovated Quail Hollow track.
A 3rd round even par simply wasn’t good enough to even get him close enough to Kevin Kisner to make a charge on Sunday. Even though Spieth did move up six spots from his Saturday start, he’s starting 10 shots back of Kisner. He’s good, but he’s not good enough to claw his way past Hiedki Matsuyama and Justin Thomas and Louis Oosthuizen, who are going to be putting out some fancy playing of their own on Sunday.
Spieth explained that he’s taking the long view on this final leg of his grand slam.
"If we look historically back on my career, I think I will play this tournament worse than the other three majors just in the way that it’s set up. I feel like my game truly suits the other three majors maybe more than a PGA Championship. But I believe we can play anywhere and can win anywhere. It’s just a matter of having everything in sync at the right time."
DJ & McIlroy – wrong direction
Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy moved in the wrong direction on Saturday. They both signed for 1-over 73s and are starting Sunday at T47. Ouch!
McIlroy led the field in his performance off the Quail Hollow tees, at least in distance, but he couldn’t find the rest of his game. He’s only hitting the fairways about half the time and that’s just not enough to give himself the birdie opportunities he needed to get in the mix. His putting woes added to McIlroy’s troubles. He had trouble finding the bottom of the cup too.
We may all have expected too much of Dustin Johnson. He’s not enjoyed much success at Quail Hollow and he’s struggled since that tumble down the stairs that forced his withdrawal from The Masters to get his season back on track.
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Despite his tenuous hold on the top of the world rankings, DJ hasn’t performed competitively at the majors this season. He followed that disappointing withdrawal from The Masters with a missed cut at the U.S. Open and then he finished 16 shots back of Spieth at the Open Championship.
For whatever reason, Johnson has yet to find the game he was playing last year and he’s running out of time if he has any chance of salvaging his season.
Still, it’s going to be an exciting Sunday at the PGA Championship, even absent Spieth, McIlroy, and DJ making a charge of the top of the leaderboard. Kevin Kisner is a man on a mission. Chris Stroud is going to use every lesson he gleaned from his Wells Fargo pairing with Tiger Woods. Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas, and Louis Oosthuizen are all poised to make a charge if they get an opening.
And the Green Mile is waiting for all of them!
Next: How Tiger Woods helped Chris Stroud
The final round of the PGA Championship begins Sunday, August 18, at 8:05am. Chris Stroud and Kevin Kisner, the final group, tee off at 2:45pm. Follow this link for all final round pairings and tee times. TNT begins final round broadcast coverage at 11am and CBS takes over at 2pm. All times ET.