Early on, Moving Day has been just that in the third round of the 108th PGA Championship at Aronimink.
Players weathered the cold, wind and tucked hole locations in the first two rounds, which led to the highest halfway leading score in a PGA Championship – 4 under –since J.B. Holmes led at 1 under in the 2008 PGA Championship at Oak Hill.
For Saturday’s early starters, the temperature turned up significantly, the hole locations were much more accessible, and it was birdies galore.
Chris Kirk took advantage of the favorable morning conditions. He had it to 7 under through 17 holes for a share of the lead roughly an hour and 20 minutes before 36-hole co-leaders Maverick McNealy and Alex Smalley set out for their third round. But a double bogey at the last meant Kirk had to settled for a tournament-best tying 5-under 65.
Kirk enjoyed a stretch of five birdies in six holes on the front nine and went out in 31. He added three more birdies on the more difficult back nine before running into double trouble.
“Obviously finishing with a double on 18 stings a little bit, but played some really great golf, and nice to see some putts go in,” Kirk said. “Putting has been a little bit of a struggle for me so far this year. It was nice to just have a day where I felt like I was seeing the lines good and rolling it nice. Had a number of putts that, despite all the ones I made, still, a handful of other ones that looked like they could have gone in. So, yeah, it was nice.”
Michael Kim birdied six of his first seven holes but cooled off on the back side. He shot a 3-under 67 to pull back to even par.
Kristoffer Reitan notched his first PGA Tour victory last Sunday in the Truist Championship. With two back-nine eagles on Saturday on holes No. 13 and 16, he carded a 5-under 65. At 2 under for the week, he’s just two off the lead.
“I found the pins to be a little bit more accessible today, but obviously just when I was about to finish, the wind started to pump pretty hard and even swirling quite a bit,” Reitan said. “So I don't know how it's going to look like this afternoon, but happy to get out early and try to take -- or take advantage of the early morning conditions.”
Justin Rose, a winner at Aronimink in the 2010 AT&T National had his best round of the week Saturday, a 5-under 65 to move up the leaderboard. At 2 under, he’s just two off the lead.
“Got off to a good start, which is kind of exactly what I felt like I needed to do today,” said Rose. “I thought it was some beautiful conditions this morning. Put the ball in play off the tee, which I wasn't able to do for the first two days. Yeah, kind of hit some really beautiful iron shots into some pins, worked the ball nicely into right flag, left flag. I was really happy with the way I kind of adjusted overnight and worked on a couple of things on the range before I went out to play today, just adjusted a couple of things. It was good to see that pay off so quickly.”
The morning movers will be close observers Saturday afternoon, where forecasts call for wind gusts over 20 mph.
“We'll see how the leaderboard looks at the end of the day, but honestly, I kind of look at the round and go I feel like I wish I would have squeezed two more out of it,” Rose said. “I always get greedy, but standing on the 14th tee, I'm thinking it to myself -- I actually didn't think this to myself at the time, but if I could go back in time and squeeze two more out of it, I'd be in an incredible spot going into tomorrow.”
