LEADERBOARD
-4 McNealy, Smalley
-3 Potgieter, Jaeger, MW Lee, Greyserman, Matsuyama, Gotterup
Irish:
E Harrington (13), McIlroy (5)
+3 Lowry (15)
Key tee times:
5.50pm Jon Rahm, Andrew Putnam
6.40pm Scottie Scheffler, David Puig
7.40pm Alex Smalley, Maverick McNealy
Good lag putt for Rory (E) on 6, he’ll have three or four feet for birdie. Missed that length for par on the 4th, but he’ll fancy his chance of getting under par there.
Birdie for McIlroy! Excellent response to the dropped shot, immediately birdies the next one. Tee shot from 153 yards to 12 feet from the hole, drains the putt to get back to Even par.
Then on the next hole he hits an incredible drive. On the 5th, which is 397 yards, he cuts the corner and it rolls up to the green, hitting it 369 yards. Wow, he has that for eagle!
Check out this shot by Shane Lowry:
Bogey for McIlroy! Oh dear, he misses from about three feet for par, his putt hits the edge and lips out and that’s back to square one on the 4th, disappointing.
Chris Kirk is another who is -5 for the day, and -2 for the tournament. Michael Kim is now -6 for the day, -1 for the tournament.
Justin Rose (-2) is flying up the leaderboard and just missed a chance to move within one of the lead. Harrington (E) is keeping it steady with five pars in a row as he’s on the 13th hole.
132 yards for McIlroy (E) from the fairway at the 4th, but not a great approach this time, gets a hard bounce with the wedge and goes over the back.
McIlroy (E) hits a good wedge to the green on the 2nd from 80 yards to about 10 feet, but the putt just slips by for birdie. On the 3rd, he is in the bunker off the tee, but sets up another birdie chance, albeit farther away than before
Back-to-back birdies for Lowry! He gets back to +3 after chipping in on the 14th.
Rory (E) at the second takes on an aggressive line and hits a big-hitting draw into the rough. But shouldn’t be too bad depending on the lie, good angle.
Harrington (E) is on the fairway at the 11th, 111 yards left for his second.
Birdie for McIlroy! Confident putt off the right edge and he’s back to even par. Within four.
Harrington (E) has got up and down, holing from nine feet at the 10th.
Harrington (E) has missed the green at the 10th, will have to use his short game powers to get up and down.
Nice shot by Koepka (+1) to the back shelf. An even better shot by McIlroy to seven or eight feet for birdie at the first! Great start.
McIlroy is heading for the first tee to a great reception. There are plenty of birdies today, maybe due to the higher temperatures and easier pins. Michael Kim is 5 under for the day thru 9, 2 under for the tournament. Chris Kirk and Justin Rose are 4 under for the day, while our man Harrington is 3 under for the day.
Brooks Koepka (+1), his playing partner today, is down the fairway. Great drive by Rory, outdriving him and on the fairway.
Just the five PGA Championships between them in this pairing.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the third round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink in Philadelphia, where Rory McIlroy tees off his third round starting at +1, well down the field yet only five strokes off an inexperienced duo of Mav McNealy and Alex Smalley. It is the most condensed Major leaderboard in 24 years after two days, it really is at the point where anyone could emerge from the pack and win it from here. If McIlroy follows up his 67 from yesterday with another or better, then he should be in with a shot come Sunday.
On the course, Pádraig Harrington continues to stun at 54 years of age. After shooting an under par round of 69 yesterday, he started the front nine today with three birdies on 1, 6 and 7 to move within four of the lead on Even par. What a legend and we’ll be monitoring how he goes too. Shane Lowry is also on the course, but no fireworks at 4 over for the tournament.