PGA Championship Day 3, Another New Leader

TPC Harding Park, San Francisco, CA — August 8, 2020

Haotong Li held the overnight lead after round 2 of the PGA Championship at Harding Park in San Francisco. Unfortunately for him, he did nothing to improve upon that position. A bogey on his 5th hole of the day started the slide that continued with a double bogey on 13. He then bogeyed on 14 & 16, which sent him plummeting down the leaderboard. He finished the day at 3 over par and dropped into a tie for 13th. His shot at this major likely gone.

Who responded to the call on moving day? Dustin Johnson, Scottie Scheffler, and Collin Morikawa all posted a score of 65 to put them in contention for Sunday.

New Leaders

Johnson’s 5 under round combined with his two-day total of -4 pushed him to the top of the leaderboard, alone at 9 under par. Four birdies on the front side were ruined by a bogey on the 6th and a double bogey on the 9th. Johnson shook off the negative and made 4 birdies on the backside without a blip to get into the lead.

Scheffler went birdie-bogey on his first two holes, then put up 4 more birdies on his opening nine. A bogey on 11 muted his momentum. He got it going again with three birdies in a row on 15, 16, & 17. He blew a chance to share the lead with a bogey on 18. Still, he will play tomorrow in the final group, 1 stroke behind Johnson at 8 under.

Contenders

Birdies finally outnumbered the bogeys for Bryson DeChambeau, his 4 under par 66 moved him up the leaderboard into a tie for 7th. A three-shot deficit is not insurmountable for a player of DeChambeau’s skill.

Joining DeChambeau are Tony Finau, Justin Rose, Jason Day, Daniel Berger, and Tommy Fleetwood, any of the group is capable of making a Sunday charge to the front. Post a low score and see what the pressure does to the last few groups.

Tiger

What about Tiger Woods? Another round of 2 over par left the “big cat” tied for 50th, 10 strokes off the lead. Jack Nicklaus’s all-time record of 18 majors looks safer as each of the annual big 4 tournaments goes into the books. Next chance to inch closer for Tiger comes September 17-20, in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York.

Leaderboard for Round 3 of the 2020 PGA Championship